Understanding public policy / Thomas R. Dye.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Policy analysis: what governments do, why they do it, and what difference it makes -- Models of politics: some help in thinking about public policy -- Civil rights: elite and mass interaction -- Criminal justice: rationality and irrationality in public policy -- Health and welfare: the search for rational strategies -- Education: the group struggle -- Environmental policy: externalities and interests -- Defense policy: strategies for serious games -- Economic policy: incrementalism at work -- Tax policy: battling the special interests -- International trade and immigration: elite-mass conflict -- American federalism: institutional arrangements and public policy -- Inputs and outputs: a systems analysis of state policies -- The policymaking process: getting inside the system -- Policy evaluation: finding out what happens after a law is passed.