The Political Process Of Policymaking: A Pragmatic Approach To Public Policy (studies In The Political Economy Of Public Policy)

## Studies in the Political Economy of Public Policy presents cutting edge research on the origins and impacts of public policy. The series takes as its starting point the recognition that public policy and its outcomes are shaped by and shape the political-economic context within which they exist. It accepts that conflicts and cooperation between public and private interests and how they are reconciled are crucial determinants of public policy and its impact on society. Titles in the series will focus on the competitive and cooperative dynamics operating in increasingly complex policy spaces in a range of diverse settings. The series will launch with a set of books on emerging and frontier markets, failed states, and crisis-afflicted developed countries. Fundamentally pluralist and interdisciplinary in nature, the setting is designed to attract high quality original research of both a theoretical and empirical nature that make sense of contemporary public policies as well as their determinants and impacts in novel and relevant ways. Far from being defenceless when faced with inextricable problems such as inequality, unemployment, poverty, precarious situations or global warming, governments continuously increase the policy proposals for new action, reforms or transformation. Nevertheless, their inability to solve problems, which is occasionally penalised by democratic voting or by changeovers, never challenges the political system itself. To understand this astonishing political stability within a disordered world, Philippe Zittoun looks at the 'policymaking process' as a political activity which defines, propagates and imposes public policy proposals as a means to 'restore order' within society. Based on a significant study as well as on surveys carried out at the heart of the policymaking process, this innovative approach to public policy leads us to identify policymakers as true modern Sisyphuses (site de l'éditeur) Front Matter....Pages i-vi Introduction: The Political Process of Policymaking....Pages 1-11 Creating Social Disorder: Constructing, Propagating and Policitising Social Problems....Pages 12-41 Defining Solution: A Complex Bricolage to Solve Public Problems....Pages 42-92 Propagating Solution: Argumentative Strategies to Cement Coalitions....Pages 93-138 Policy Statements to Legitimise “Decision-Makers”....Pages 139-186 Conclusion: How Public Policy Shapes Politics....Pages 187-192 Back Matter....Pages 193-211 Philippe Zittoun analyses the public policymaking process focusing on how governments relentlessly develop proposals to change public policy to address insoluble problems. Rather than considering this surprising Sisyphean effort as a lack of rationality, the author examines it as a political activity that produces order and stability.