The Political Process of Policymaking

"Despite much lip-service given to the need to understand the profoundly political nature of public policies, there is a distinct tendency in many studies to address the subject in a mechanical way, treating the definition of policy goals and the articulation of the means to achieve them as technical issues subject to a precise instrumental logic and rationality. This excellent volume by Philippe Zittoun avoids this error and takes on the analysis of the political construction of public policy head-on. It develops and refines key definitions and methods for thepolitical analysis of public policy-making, from problem construction to solution 'bricolage' and the development and analysis of the argumentative strategies used to propagate solutions and legitimize

them. This is essential reading for all students of policy-making." Micheal Howlett, Burnaby Mountain Chair, Simon Fraser University, Canada

"All too often politics is underplayed in the analysis of the policy process. In The Political Process of Policymaking Professor Zittoun offers a refreshing corrective to this neglect. He is also to be commended for his attention of the role the political construction of policy objects and events, as well as his examination of the role of communication and argumentation as they play out across the policy process as a whole, from agenda-setting to evaluation. Not least important is the fact that the book opens the way to a much needed and long overdue exchange between policy scholars in the English and French speaking worlds. This is by all accounts a seminar service to the field." Frank Fischer, Professor of Politics and Global Affairs, Rutgers University, USA

"Philippe Zittoun's book provides an excellent discussion of policymaking in France, and the interactions among levels of government within that political system. This is not, however, just a book on France but provides insights into more general theoretical and analytic questions about public policy." B. Guy Peters, Maurice Falk Professor of Government, University of Pittsburgh, USA