Resolving Messy Policy Problems Handling Conflict in Environmental, Transport, Health and Ageing Policy

'This book should be read by anyone attempting to understand why policies often do not work.' B. Guy Peters, University of Pittsburgh and Zeppelin University, Germany 'The field of policy studies is knee-deep in turgid texts, but this is not one of them. Ney guides us through all the theories, pointing out where they converge and where they conflict, and ending with a subsuming tour de force in which he refurbishes the classic theory of pluralist democracy by pinning down just what it is that constitutes the plurality.' Michael Thompson, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria and Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, Said Business School, University of Oxford 'Steven Ney has produced an extremely important study of contemporary public policy. He points out the extent to which the most significant policy problems facing governments and society are complex and are not subject to neat, linear solutions. This book should be read by anyone attempting to understand why policies often do not work, and how they might be made to work more effectively.' B. Guy Peters, University of Pittsburgh and Zeppelin University, Germany