Policy as Practice: Making Sense of Governing

Colebatch, Castles and a collection of policy practitioners and scholars investigate the process of policy making through a range of current policy issues in Australia.

With case studies including childcare, educational policies, mental health, and environmental policies, the expertise and experience of policy practitioners and academic observers offer an empirical understanding of what makes for policy work in practice. From problematising to participating, structuring to judging, the authors reflect on the significance of the practices of governing in relation to current policy issues in Australia. They also present a robust conceptual framework for making sense of how we are governed to draw meaningful inferences about policy as a practice.

A practical guide for students and practitioners of policymaking, which goes beyond the policy cycle model to look at how real policies are really made and how they really work.

H.K. Colebatch has taught and researched in the field of public policy and administration in Australia, Papua New Guinea, East Africa, Southeast Asia and Europe for over four decades.

Calista Castles is an Adjunct Fellow and a social researcher in mental health theory and practice at Griffith University. She has worked in government and non-government organisations as a consultant.