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Department of Political Studies

Course description

This course is designed to enable development of a conceptual ‘tool-kit’ for the explanation and evaluation of public policy. We examine the role of policy actors such as interest groups, business, technical experts and government agencies and elected officials; we explore the way in which the international economy and domestic political institutions shape policy outcomes, the recognition and diagnosis of policy problems, and the rationality of policy decision-making.The questions asked in this unit include: Why does policy matter? Who makes policy and how? What impact does the global environment have on what domestic governments deliver? In answering these questions the focus is on those that play a key role in the making of public policy: ministers, bureaucrats, ministerial advisers, media and interest groups and other policy advocates. It examines how policy is made from the point at which an issue hits the public agenda, to the point when a policy is implemented.

Recommended reading 

Note: Course readings may only be used for the University's educational purposes. You may print a copy for your own use, but you may not make a further copy for any other purpose. You may not copy or distribute any part of the reading to any other person. Failure to comply with these terms may expose you to legal action for copyright infringement and/or disciplinary action by the University.

Course Textbooks:

• Howlett, Michael, and M. Ramesh. Studying Public Policy: Policy Cycles and Policy Subsystems. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Shaw, Richard, and Chris Eichbaum. Public Policy in New Zealand: Institutions, Processes and Outcomes. 3rd ed. Auckland: Pearson, 2011.

General texts on public policy

• Bridgman, Peter, and Glyn Davis. Australian Policy Handbook. 2nd ed. St. Leonards: Allen and Unwin, 2000.
• Colebatch, H. K. Policy. 2nd ed. Buckingham: Open University Press, 2002. 
• Considine, Mark. Public Policy: A Critical Approach. Melbourne: Macmillan, 1994. 
• Hill, Michael. The Policy Process in the Modern State. 3rd ed. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1997.
• ---, ed. The Policy Process: A Reader. 2nd ed. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1997.
• Miller, Raymond, ed. New Zealand Government and Politics. 4th ed. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2006. 
• Parsons, Wayne. Public Policy: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis. London: Edward Elgar, 1995.

There are many more books on public policy in the Library. See the Voyager searches section to find more.

Additional Readings

  Policy making and the policy cycle 

• Bridgman, Peter, and Glyn Davis. Australian Policy Handbook. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1998. Chap. 1.
• Colebatch, H. K. Beyond the Policy Cycle: The Policy Process in Australia. Allen and Unwin, 2006.
• ---. Policy. 2nd ed. Buckingham: Open University Press, 2002.  Chap. 1.
• Colebatch, H. K., ed. The Work of Policy. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.
• Hill, Michael. The Policy Process in the Modern State. 3rd ed. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1997.1-6.
• Hogwood, Brian W., and Lewis A. Gunn. Policy Analysis for the Real World. London: Oxford University Press, 1984. Chap. 2.
• Parsons, Wayne. Public Policy: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis. Aldershot, UK: Edward Elgar, 1995. 1-29. 
• Peters, B. Guy, and Jon Pierre. Handbook of Public Policy. London ; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2006.

Policy Institutions

• Bridgman, Peter, and Glyn Davis. The Australian Policy Handbook. 2nd ed. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 2000. Chap. 2.
• Gorges, Michael J. "New Institutionalist Explanations for Institutional Change: A Note of Caution." Politics 21, no. 2 (2001): 137-145. Available online via Synergy. Click to access the full text.
• Hayward, Janine, ed.  Local Government and the Treaty of Waitangi. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• ---. 'Treaty Policy." In New Zealand Government and Politics, edited by Raymond Miller. 4th ed. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2006.  
• Keating, M, J. Wanna and P. Weller, eds. Institutions on the Edge? Capacity for Governance. East Melbourne: Allen and Unwin, 2000.
• March, James G., and Johan P. Olsen. Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics. New York, Free Press, 1989. Also in The Policy Process: A Reader, edited by Michael Hill, 139-158. 2nd ed. New York: Prentice Hall/Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1997.
• Miller, Raymond, ed. New Zealand Government and Politics. 4th ed. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2006. 
• Shaw, Richard, and Chris Eichbaum. Public Policy in New Zealand: Institutions, Processes and Outcomes. Auckland: Pearson, 2005. Chaps. 3, 8.
• Steunenberg, Bernard, and Frans Van Vught, eds. Political Institutions and Public Policy: Perspectives on European Decision Making. London: Kluwer Academic, 1997.
• Sullivan, Anne.  "Maori Politics and Policy." In New Zealand Government and Politics, edited by Raymond Miller. 4th ed. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2006.  
• Weaver, R. Kent, and Bert Rockman, eds. Do Institutions Matter? Government Capabilities in the United States and Abroad. Washington: Brookings Institute, 1993.
• Wilsford, David. "Path Dependency, or Why History Makes it Difficult but Not Impossible to Reform Health Care Systems in a Big Way." Journal of Public Policy 14, no. 3 (1994): 251-283. Available online via the Library database JSTOR.

Bureaucracy

• Behn, Robert. "The New Public Management Paradigm and the Search for Democratic Accountability." International Public Management Journal 1, no. 2 (1998): 131-164.
• Boston, Jonathan, John Martin, June Pallot and Pat Walsh. Public Management: The New Zealand Model. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1996. Chap. 2.
• Hawkes, David. "Partnership and Politicisation: New Relations for Senior Executives in the NT." Australian Journal of Public Administration  58, no. 3 (September 1999): 80-88. Available online via the Library database Business Source Premier.
• Hughes, Owen. Public Management and Administration: An Introduction. 3rd ed. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2003. Chaps. 1, 3. Also available as an e-book via the Library database Ebrary.
• Keating, Michael. "The Public Service: Independence, Responsibility and Responsiveness." Australian Journal of Public Administration  58, no. 1 (March 1999): 39-47. Available online via the Library database Business Source Premier.
• Kettl, Donald. The Global Public Management Revolution. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institute, 2000. Chap. 3.
• Martin, John. "The Public Service." In New Zealand Government and Politics, edited by Raymond Miller. 3rd ed. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Mulgan, Richard. "Politicisation of Senior Appointments in the Australian Public Service." Australian Journal of Public Administration 57, no. 3 (1998): 3-14. Available online via the Library database Business Source Premier.
• Shaw, Richard. "The Public Service." In New Zealand Government and Politics, edited by Raymond Miller. 4th ed. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2006.  
• Weber, Max. "Legal Authority in a Bureaucracy." In Markets, Hierarchies and Networks: The Co-Ordination of Social Life, edited by G. Thompson, J. Frances, R. Levacic and J. Mitchell, 119-127. London: Sage, 1991.
• Weller, P. Australia's Mandarins: The Frank and the Fearless? Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen and Unwin, 2001. Chaps. 1, 2.
• Weller, Patrick, and Terry Wood. "The Department Secretaries: A Profile of a Changing Profession." Australian Journal of Public Administration 58, no. 2 (June 1999): 21-32. Available online via the Library database Business Source Premier.

Ministerial and Policy Advisers

• Dent, Helen. "Consultants and the Public Service." Australian Journal of Public Administration  61, no. 1 (March 2002): 108-113. Available online via the Library database Business Source Premier.
• Eichbaum, Chris, and Richard Shaw. "Minding the Minister? Ministerial Advisers in New Zealand Government." Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Science Online 2, no. 2 (2007): 95-113.
• Maley, Maria. "Australian Ministerial Advisers and the Royal Commission on Government Administration." Australian Journal of Public Administration  61, no. 1 (March 2002) 103-107. Available online via the Library database Business Source Premier.
• Shaw, Richard, and Chris Eichbaum. Public Policy in New Zealand: Institutions, Processes and Outcomes. Auckland: Pearson, 2005. Chap. 10.
• Shaw, Richard. "Ministerial Advisers and Consultants." In New Zealand Government and Politics, edited by Raymond Miller. 4th ed. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2006. 
• Tiernan, Anne. "Advising Howard: Interpreting Changes in Advisory and Support Structures for the Prime Minister of Australia." Australian Journal of Political Science 41, no.3 (September 2006): 309-324. Available online via the Library database Academic Search Premier.
• Walter, J.  "Ministerial Staff Under Hawke." Australian Journal of Public Administration 42, no. 3 (1984): 203-219.
• ---. The Ministers' Minders: Personal Advisers in National Government. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1986.
• Weller, Patrick. Don't Tell the Prime Minister. Melbourne: Scribe Publications, 2002.

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