Between Power and Rights—A New Perspective on Public Policy Studies

Author: Hu Pingren
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-05-01
Features: From a single perspective of administrative management or decision-makers to examine policy phenomena and policy processes, this book constructs a theoretical system of policy science. The common tendency in policy research fields both domestically and internationally has been to focus solely on decision-making power while neglecting civil rights. Guided by the overarching principles of governing the country according to law, as well as the scientificization, democratization, and institutionalization of decision-making, this book adopts a relatively detached academic stance, employing both top-down and bottom-up dual perspectives to observe and critique various policy phenomena and processes. It offers innovative explorations into many fundamental and cutting-edge issues in the field of public policy studies and presents academic challenges to numerous authoritative domestic and international viewpoints. The book first defines public policy as systematic measures and actions taken by political organizations such as the state and parties to address certain social issues, allocate and regulate social interests, and guide and standardize the social behavior of the public. It also first proposes and argues that the research object of public policy studies is the functional mechanisms and operational patterns of public policy, with the core of its research being policy decision-making, policy implementation, and policy acceptance. Public policy is an organic unity of policy cultural texts and policy behavior. Social public is not merely the object of policy but also the subject, i.e., the policy-making subject. The object of public policy is objective phenomena that meet the needs of the subject and are confirmed and adjusted by public policy, including social issues, social resources, and social behavior. Additionally, the book provides a relatively in-depth yet concise analysis of several commonly used economic policy tools.