Case Study Research in Public Policy

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

Definitions of public policy usually begin with Thomas Dye's observation that public policy is based upon governments choosing to take action or not to take action. Based upon this definition, public policy is a general concept that can be applied to a wide variety of government activities and behaviors. Public policy is generally associated with the actions of government. Governments have two basic functions—to regulate and to provide programs and services. Regulations emanate from executive and legislative authorities. That authority is legally vested in public agencies or professional bodies. The policy impact of public agencies on our lives is so overwhelming that many citizens simply accept much of that authority as a natural part of their existence. Usually it is not [Page 118]until things go wrong, such as the recall of tainted food, the discovery of unsafe drinking water, the importation of toys with lead paint, or a deregulation-driven institutional financial crisis, that citizens become aware of and demand immediate action from public authorities. Government regulations extend beyond the domestic sphere into the field of international relations, covering such matters as foreign policy, international financial and security agreements, trade delegations, and multi-governmental organizations.

The provision of public programs and services is largely dependent upon the ability of governments to fund such services. Public programs and services cover such large fields as healthcare, education, social services, labor, justice and policing, national defense and state security, agriculture, fisheries, the environment, immigration, and public works.

Public policy research focuses on trying to observe, as much as possible, what is going on within these large fields. The resultant studies provide rich, often minute detail on the real-world policy actions of public authorities. Those observable actions can take place at the international, national, regional, and local levels of government. Public policy research has grown significantly over a relatively short period of time. The public's thirst for knowledge and a better understanding of the policy-making process has grown in the era of e-government, because of easier access to information and continued demands for greater transparency on how public dollars are spent. Government departments and agencies are also being pressed to state policy priorities clearly and to provide accompanying documentation in order to explain various roles, responsibilities, and organizational accountability in the policy development process.

Public policy and public administration, another major subfield of political science, are concerned with the theory and practice of government. Case study research in public policy is an important analytical tool that can illuminate the actions of various policy actors in attempting to influence the policy-making process. Illuminating policy influencing factors allows for the interplay between formal presentations of public policy decision-making theory and actual practice. Moreover, case study research in public policy attempts to bridge the gap between the academic world of rational–normative approaches as to how public policy should be made and the imperfect, real world of policy making. The difficulty in developing theoretical explanations for public policy outcomes sometimes arises from the view that government officials often “bill themselves” as avowedly pragmatic when it comes to the policy decision-making process.

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