This research reviews the book by B. Guy Peters, entitled American Public Policy: Promise and Performance (1993). The underlying themes of the work will be discussed and their implications for the policymaking process will be scrutinized.
As Peters notes, government in the United States has grown from a simple "night watchman state" to an immense network of organizations and institutions affecting almost every aspect of daily life (p. 3). Government in the United States is huge and complex. The institutions that play a role in formulating governmental policy are achieved now through an overlapping patchwork of governments, public corporations, private corporations and a multitude of other public and private organizations. Today, more than 83,000 separate governmental agencies exist in the United States. And the policies that these governments must develop are now more broad and all-encompassing than ever before in American history (pp. 17-18).
Peters' work is dedicated to helping the reader understand the fundamental processes and content of public policy that underlie the size and complexity of American government. It attempts to increase knowledge about how policies are made, the substantive issues of major policy arenas, and what standards of evaluation should be applied to policies. This book is less a textbook on public administration and more a primer on policy issues and the policymaking process.
Peters' begins with a discussion of policymaking process at the federal level of government and the impact that the structures and procedures have on the content of policies. He then discusses the standards that should be employed in evaluating the quality and desirability of specific policy decisions.
Public policy is the sum of government activities, whether acting directly or through agents, as it has an influence on the lives of citizens. There are three distinct levels of public policy. At the first level are polic...