International Public Policy Analysis

Most public policy analysis books currently on the market are US-centric and focused on quantitative analysis, while comparative public policy textbooks are oriented around countries and specific policy processes. International Public Policy Analysis is the first textbook to take a truly comparative and cross-cultural approach, organized around policy issues, to examine important policy ‘lessons’ that affect the everyday lives of citizens. Authors George Guess and Thomas Husted demonstrate that incremental, marginal changes in sectoral policy systems using cross-national lessons can lead to larger changes in country policies, democracy, and better governance. While whole-systems policy transfer without major adaptation to local cultural and institutional contexts often does not work, many opportunities exist in each sector for operational-level piecemeal transfer of lessons and practices to improve policy performance. Jargon-free and using a cross-cultural approach, the individual chapters in this book utilize a 3-level analysis to review the policy issue areas, present analytic tools and frameworks, and provide cases/exercises for practice in applying the methods and frameworks. International Public Policy Analysis is an essential upper-level undergraduate and graduate textbook for courses on comparative public policy, policy process, political economy, and international policy analysis, and may also be used as required reading in introductory public affairs and policy courses at the graduate level.

"Although the market for how-to-do-policy-analysis textbooks looks crowded at first glance, there is room for fresh perspectives such as that offered by George M. Guess and Thomas Husted’s International Public Policy Analysis. In addition to incorporating budget analysis and financial management methods into the standard methodology toolbox, Guess and Husted offer a distinctive interpretation of policy analysis as being fundamentally about smart policy transfer, with a particular focus on the knowledge and skills needed to draw appropriate lessons from international experience and apply them effectively to new contexts. The book fuses familiar components (a strong public choice focus on incentives and economic methods) with less familiar insights from the worlds of comparative policy analysis and public finance to produce a new approach that is innovative without being revolutionary." – Journal of Policy Analysis and Management"International Public Policy Analysis offers a thoughtful analysis of the transferability of best policy practices across countries. The authors reflect on the complexity of public policy and the need for a nuanced, culture-specific approach to policy design." –Valentina Dimitrova-Grajzl, Virginia Military Institute, USA"Guess and Husted combine their substantial research backgrounds and consulting experiences to produce this unique book about public policy analysis that offers extremely detailed evaluation of a wide variety of modern public policy problems. Their analytical framework application for policy problems globally promises scholars, students, and practitioners insight into the often overwhelming complexity of these problems, yet delivers well regarding how such problems might be better examined and the possibilities of lessons learned for solving them." – Katherine Willoughby, Georgia State University, USA

George M. Guess is Adjunct Professor in the School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs at George Mason University, USA. Thomas A. Husted is Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at American University, USA.