Pathways of Power: The Dynamics of National Policymaking (American Governance and Public Policy series)

Conventional treatments of the policy process portray a single, idealized model of “how a bill becomes law”; journalistic treatments tend to emphasize the role of special interests and campaign contributions to Congress; and many college textbooks describe a common set of stages through which all policies progress, from agenda setting to legitimation to implementation. While these approaches have their merits, they fail to convey--much less explain--the great diversity of political processes that shape specific policies in contemporary Washington. Rather than a single route along which all policies progress, this book argues that the policy process is best understood as a set of four distinctive pathways of public policymaking, each of which requires different political resources, appeals to particular actors in the system, and elicits its own unique set of strategies and styles of coalition building. The book analyzes 42 federal policy cases from 1980 to the present in eight domestic policy arenas. The cases represent the most important legislation, supplemented as needed by other cases to give adequate representation to each pathway. While civics textbooks describe an idealized model of "how a bill becomes law;" journalists often emphasize special interest lobbying and generous campaign contributions to Congress; and other textbooks describe common stages through which all policies progress, these approaches fail to convey--much less explain--the tremendous diversity in political processes that shape specific policies in contemporary Washington. Bridging the gap between textbook models of how public policy should work, and how the process actually works in contemporary Washington, Pathways of Power provides a framework that integrates the roles of political interests and policy ideals in the contemporary policy process. This book argues that the policy process can be understood as a set of four distinctive pathways of policymaking--pluralist, partisan, expert, and symbolic--that draw upon different political resources, appeal to different political actors, and elicit unique strategies and styles of coalition building. Revealing the strategic behavior of policy actors who compete to shift policies onto pathways that maximize their resources and influence, the book provides a fresh approach to understanding the seeming chaos and volatility of the policy process today. The book's use of a wide universe of major policy decisions and case studies, focused on such key areas as health care, federal budgeting, and tax policy, provides a useful foundation for students of the policy process as well as for policy practitioners eager to learn more about their craft.--Publisher website While civics textbooks describe an idealized model of "how a bill becomes law;" journalists often emphasize special interest lobbying and generous campaign contributions to Congress; and other textbooks describe common stages through which all policies progress, these approaches fail to convey much less explain the tremendous diversity in political processes that shape specific policies in contemporary Washington. Bridging the gap between textbook models of how public policy should work, and how the process actually works in contemporary Washington, Pathways of Power provides a framework that integrates the roles of political interests and policy ideals in the contemporary policy process. This book argues that the policy process can be understood as a set of four distinctive pathways of policymaking pluralist, partisan, expert, and symbolic that draw upon different political resources, appeal to different political actors, and elicit unique strategies and styles of coalition building. Revealing the strategic behavior of policy actors who compete to shift policies onto pathways that maximize their resources and influence, the book provides a fresh approach to understanding the seeming chaos and volatility of the policy process today. The book's use of a wide universe of major policy decisions and case studies, focused on such key areas as health care, federal budgeting, and tax policy, provides a useful foundation for students of the policy process as well as for policy practitioners eager to learn more about their craft. Cover Contents Preface Acknowledgments 1 Introduction 2 The Pluralist Pathway 3 The Partisan Pathway 4 The Expert Pathway 5 The Symbolic Pathway 6 Pathways and Policy Change 7 Pathways and Budgeting 8 Pathways through the Political Thicket of Taxation 9 The Pathway Dynamics of Intergovernmental Policymaking and Reform 10 Conclusion Appendix: Analysis of Pathways Designations Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W