Rebooting Policy Analysis: Strengthening the Foundation, Expanding the Scope

Rebooting Policy Analysis: Strengthening the Foundation, Expanding the Scope is a savvy introduction to policy analysis that gets students thinking, not just about how decisions should be made, but how they are made. The text highlights practical skills needed to advise decision-makers on matters of public policy in ways that are well-informed and solutions-oriented, while managing limitations like time, resources, and information. In a world that has become increasingly complex and partisan, the strength of policy analysis rests not only in its classical academic methods, but on the development of a practical, analytic mindset.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Introduction: The Classical Models and their Limitations 1. Thinking about the Future: Prospective Policy Analysis 2. Thinking About the Past: Retrospective Program and Impact Evaluation 3. Obstacles to Using Classical Policy Analysis Models in the Real World Part II: Introduction: Thinking Clearly 4. Using Metacognition to Check Your Own Biases & the Biases of Others 5. Using Logic to Identify Tentative Truths 6. Collecting and Evaluating Evidence for Use in Policy Analysis 7. The Mindset of an Effective Policy Analyst Part III: Looking at Policy Issues Through Different Lenses 8. The Equity Lens 9. The Economics Lens 10. The Political and Institutional Lenses 11. The Legal, Sustainability, and Science and Technology Lenses Part IV: The Building Blocks of Policy Analysis 12. Incorporating Systems Thinking in Policy Analysis 13. Using Policy Analysis to Visualize the Future 14. Designing and (Re)Designing Public Policies 15. Having an Impact While Preserving Your Integrity

About the Author :
Peter Linquiti is an Associate Professor at the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. He joined GW’s faculty in 2012 after a 23-year career as a policy analyst at ICF International, where he supported clients on a wide variety of assignments related to the design, implementation, and evaluation of policies at the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Energy, Occupational Health and Safety Administration, United Nations Environment Program, the World Bank, and the governments of Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. His final position at ICF was as an Executive Vice President and one of four executives leading the firm of about 600 consultants. At GW, Dr. Linquiti teaches graduate courses in policy analysis, environmental policy, and decision modeling. He holds a PhD in public policy and public administration from GW, an MPP from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, and a BA in political science from UC Berkeley.

Review :
"This text helps to integrate various disciplinary and normative perspectives that often remain siloed. It also critiques traditional approaches and methods with humility, offering practical advice and tools for policy analysts to hold loosely." "This is a smart and innovative approach to improving the way we teach policy analysts. It addresses many of the blindspots I see [in] students." "[Linquiti’s book offers] an original approach.  Students will love it." "This is an accessible text that moves beyond the classic models of analysis to give students multiple tools that let them overcome the limitations of normal policy analysis. It moves them toward systems thinking.  […] All the texts I have considered stick with the classic models of analysis, even though many admit that they are flawed. They are also all either too simplistic to be useful for a practicing analyst or so complex that they are inaccessible for many of my students. This text appears to bridge that gap." "This book helps to fill a needed void in the way we look at tackling public policy matters […]" "A refreshing revision and extension of traditional public policy analysis, placing the expertise and usefulness of the professional policy analysts at the center of a fully integrated approach to public policy analysis for the real world […] Those with a professional and scholarly public policy focus and scholars and public policy advocates will find Rebooting Policy Analysis engaging and useful." "Very promising and well written. Pedagogy and scholarship [are] well-grounded and situated for the intended audience. […] a good first text for rebooting policy analysis." "A new book on policy analysis that explains the pitfalls of the classical economic approach and provides students with a grounding in real-world problems." "Linquiti’s twenty-three year professional career in the private sector, working collaboratively with government in public policy development, implementation, and evaluation processes provides unique experiential perspectives, which complement academic and practical aspects of policy analysis in […] a world becoming more skeptical, critical, and fractured by the inside workings of government." "Rebooting represents an important advance in policy analysis by helping to define the field. Not only does the book refresh our understanding of what counts as a "classic" in the second decade of the 21st century, but it also begins to pinpoint what should be included in a renegotiated policy analysis canon." "The book should be required reading for teachers and practitioners of policy analysis, and I recommend it highly to all JPAM readers and APPAM members. While ingenuity may be needed to fit this book into a one-semester course in hands-on policy analysis, policy analysis instructors—an innovative bunch by nature—will undoubtedly welcome the challenge."