It is nearly impossible to look at the implementation of any policy from testing at an elementary school to
testing of a pharmaceutical drug and avoid seeing the impact and influence of public bureaucracies. Given the importance
of their work, and the accountability they owe to the American public, the performance of public bureaucracies
must be assessed in a systematic manner. Working through four key perspectives bounded rationality, principal-agent
theory, interest group mobilization, and network theory Gormley and Balla give students the analytic power needed
to comprehensively evaluate performance, or the give-and-take between decision makers, managers, elected officials,
organized interests, and individuals.
In addition to updating the book to account for recent developments and new scholarship from the No Child Left
Behind Act and presidential appointments to the Program Assessment Rating Tool and changes to the rulemaking process
the authors apply their working theories in a new chapter on the politics of disaster. With in-depth coverage of
9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the avian flu, students can learn important lessons from looking at similar events
and crises through the same analytical lenses.