This book questions the way policy making has been distanced from politics in prevailing
theories of the policy process, and highlights the frequently overlooked ubiquity of values
and values conflicts in politics and policy. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of
current theories, reviews the illusions of rationalism in politics, and explores the way values
are implicated throughout the democratic process, from voter choice to policy decisions. It
argues that our understanding of public policy is enhanced by recognizing its intrinsically …

Interrogating Public Policy Theory is a relatively short book that provides overviews of many
public policy theories and a call for policy theories to focus more and integrate better with
theories of political science. The book begins with its appeal to bring values back into public
policy theory, then shifts emphasis slightly to argue for bringing “politics” back into policy
theory, and, finally, it turns to the most important message—which is for public policy
theories to make explicit connection between people (and their values), through the …