The Art of Policymaking: Tools, Techniques, and Processes in the Modern Executive Branch

This "how to" book explains the tools and techniques used to navigate the policy-making process in the Executive Branch today. Author Paul J. Weinstein Jr., who was Chief of Staff of the White House Domestic Policy Council during Clinton's administration, brings a unique and valuable insider's view to the book. In addition, an abundance of case studies, scenarios, and examples of actual documents give the book an eminiently real world orientation. The authors argue that understanding the specific tools and techniques using in policy-making is critical--the likelihood that policymakers will support a particular policy is often as much a function of the legitimacy of the process through which it was created as the merits of the policy itself. They argue that procedural legitimacy is, in turn, a function of the tools and techniques used in developing policy. Policy Makers: Policy councils, the White House staff, Agencies and policy implementation. Tools of the Trade: Poliy-making memoranda, Polling, Legislative clearance and coordination, Communicating and marketing policy. Case Studies: Welfare reform, the Clinton Economic Plan, Desert Shield and Desert Storm. For policymakers, students of public policy, general interest in politics.