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Updated it its 14th edition, Understanding Public Policyfocuses on the policy challenges confronting the Obama administration. This edition provides students with a close up look at the American healthcare system, current economic policies, issues of homeland security and defense policy among many other current event and issues shaping public policy today. The gold-standard for introductory public policy texts, Understanding Public Policyis designed to provide readers with concrete tools for both understanding and analyzing public policy.

Thomas R. Dye, Emeritus McKenzie Professor of Government at Florida State University, regularly taught large introductory classes in American politics. He received his B. A. and M. A. degrees from Pennsylvania State University and his Ph. D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of numerous books and articles on American government and public policy, including The Irony of Democracy; Politics in States and Communities; Understanding Public Policy; Who’s Running America?; American Politics in the Media Age; Power in Society; Politics, Economics, and the Public; and American Federalism: Competition Among Governments. His books have been translated into many languages, including Russian and Chinese, and published abroad. Dye has served as president of the Southern Political Science Association, president of the Policy Studies Organization, and secretary of the American Political Science Association. He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Georgia, and served as a visiting scholar at Bar- Ilan University, Israel; the Brookings Institution in Washington, D. C.; and elsewhere. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi and is listed in most major biographical directories. Additional information is available at www. thomasrdye.com.

1: Policy Analysis: What Governments Do, Why They Do It, and What Difference it Makes

2: Models of Politics: Some Help in Thinking About Public Policy

3: The Policymaking Process: Decision-Making Activities

4: Policy Evaluation: Finding Out What Happens After a Law Is Passed

5: Federalism and State Policies: Institutional Arrangements and Policy Variations

6: Criminal Justice: Rationality and Irrationality in Public Policy

7: Welfare: The Search for Rational Strategies

8: Health Care: Attempting A Rational-Comprehensive Transformation

9: Education: Group Struggles

10: Economic Policy: Challenging Incrementalism

11: Tax Policy: Battling the Special Interests

12: International Trade and Immigration: Elite-Mass Conflict