The second edition of this popular textbook introduces students to the major themes in the study of public policy implementation and relates them to contemporary developments in thinking about governance. Fully revised and updated, the book stresses the continuing importance of a focus on the implementation part of policy processes. Michael Hill and Peter L. Hupe suggest strategies for future research on implementation and identify modes of managing implementation as operational governance. Designed for an international audience, this is a core text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students studying or conducting research in public policy, social policy, public management, public administration and governance. Michael Hill is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and Visiting Professor at the Department of Politics, Queen Mary, University of London, UK. Peter Hupe teaches Public Administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He was previously Visiting Professor at the Public Management Institute, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Praise for the First Edition: "An excellent and much needed book. Hill and Hupe have provided a well written and highly accessible account of the development of implementation studies which will be immensely valuable to everyone concerned with understanding implementation in modern policy making". (Professor Wayne Parsons, University of London).

Table of Contents

Introduction Structure of the Book Some matters of definition Positioning Implementation Studies Concerns about implementation: Historical origins The rule of law The implications of the idea of democracy Public Administration and Public Management Institutional theory Postmodernist theory The Top-down/Bottom-up Debate The discovery of the 'missing link' The classical top-down authors The bottom-up challenge Implementation Theory The search for a synthesis Where does implementation begin Layers in policy processes Networks: Broadening the horizontal dimension Managing performance: Redefining the vertical dimension Differentiating policy types Including responses of affected actors Implementation and Governance The age of interventionism The age of the market and corporate government The age of neo-interventionism Assessment Implementation Theory and the Study of Governance The stages model of the policy process Alternative analytical frameworks The Multiple Governance Framework Studying implementation as governance research Researching Implementation Defining studies of implementation Explaining what needs explanation Isolating implementation Dealing with layers Specifying inter-organizational relationships Differentiating agency responses Identifying stakes Recognizing macro-parameters Quantitative versus qualitative studies Implementation in Context Implementation in practice The quest for appropriate action Policy settings Institutional environments Operational governance in context The Future of Implementation Studies The objective of studying implementation The study of governance in operation Promising developments

Reviews

The second edition of this key text by two of the leading scholars in the field makes it the primary guide to the study of implementation Martin Powell Professor of Health and Social Policy, Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham