Leading Irish academics and policy practitioners present a comprehensive study of policy analysis in Ireland. Contributors investigate the roles of the EU, the public, science, the media and gender expertise in policy analysis. This text examines policy analysis at different levels of government and identifies future challenges for policy analysis.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to public policy and administration in Ireland, thereby bridging the gap between general texts on public policy and policy analysis and books on Irish politics. Each chapter covers one of the key issues in policy analysis, eg. rational choice, corporatism, and then illustrates this with an empirical Irish case study. With the inclusion of further reading, overviews of main concepts and source material, the editors provide a student-friendly textbook which fills an important gap in the available literature on Irish politics and public administration.

This book explores how Irish prison policy has come to take on its particular character, with comparatively low prison numbers, significant reliance on short sentences and a policy-making climate in which long periods of neglect are interspersed with bursts of political activity all prominent features. Drawing on the emerging scholarship of policy analysis, the book argues that it is only through close attention to the way in which policy is formed that we will fully understand the nature of prison policy.

Leading Irish academics and policy practitioners present a current and comprehensive study of policy analysis in Ireland. Contributors examine policy analysis at different levels of government and governance including international, national and local and in the civil service, as well as non-government actors such as NGOs, interest groups and think tanks. They investigate the influential roles of the European Union, the public, science, quantitative evidence, the media and gender expertise in policy analysis. Surveying the history and evolution of public policy analysis in Ireland, this authoritative text addresses the current state of the discipline, identifies post-crisis developments and considers future challenges for policy analysis.

Many books instruct readers on how to use the tools of policy analysis. This book is different. Its primary focus is on helping readers to look critically at the strengths, limitations, and the underlying assumptions analysts make when they use standard tools or problem framings. Using examples, many of which involve issues in science and technology, the book exposes readers to some of the critical issues of taste, professional responsibility, ethics, and values that are associated with policy analysis and research. Topics covered include policy problems formulated in terms of utility maximization such as benefit-cost, decision, and multi-attribute analysis, issues in the valuation of intangibles, uncertainty in policy analysis, selected topics in risk analysis and communication, limitations and alternatives to the paradigm of utility maximization, issues in behavioral decision theory, issues related to organizations and multiple agents, and selected topics in policy advice and policy analysis for government.

A comprehensive introduction to public policy and administration in Ireland. It covers all the main theories and methods associated with public administration and public policy and illustrates these with a wide variety of case studies.