‘Edited by leading scholars with contributions from over thirty renowned experts this is the leading Handbook on policy, processes and real world governing.’

– Klaus Schubert, University of Muenster, Germany

‘This is a highly valuable and timely book, which re-discovers and re-thinks the relationship between policy processes, policy analysis (expertise and “policy work”) and governing in the context of a search for optimal governance in an ever more globalized world. This handbook does not simply bring a set of theories “in good standing” in academia, but rather relates them to one another to form an overall framework needed in dealing with the increasing internationalisation of governing at a regional (the EU) and a global level.’

– Danica Fink-Hafner, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

This Handbook covers the accounts, by practitioners and observers, of the ways in which policy is formed around problems, how these problems are recognised and understood, and how diverse participants come to be involved in addressing them. H.K. Colebatch and Robert Hoppe draw together a range of original contributions from experts in the field to illuminate the ways in which policies are formed and how they shape the process of governing.

The Handbook on Policy, Process and Governing covers not only the activities of government, but also the contributions of other stakeholders, and the ways in which a wide range of participants contribute to the formation of public policy. It explores the tensions involved in the policy process between: innovative choice and stable practise, authoritative decision and negotiated order, and agreed activity and announced goals.

The scholar’s focus on the analysis of activity and the practitioner’s interest in the achievement of outcomes are brought together in this timely volume, making it a valuable read for public policy scholars and practitioners alike.