Muers, Stephen (2020). Culture and Values at the Heart of Policy Making. An Insider's Guide. Bristol: Policy Press.

Werner Jann

doi:10.3224/dms.v14i1.12

Abstract

This book is a forceful and entertaining argument why culture and values should be taken much more seriously, both by policy makers, but also in the curricula of modern Public Policy and Public Administration programs. The author is not a fundamental sceptic of managerial politics and administration, but he shows the inherent limits, contradictions, and blind spots of this kind of policy making. He succeeds particularly well because he can draw on many years of experience as a civil servant in different British ministries, in the Cabinet Office and the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit. The book adds little to the conceptual and theoretical discussions of cultural factors in policy making, but it does provide many interesting examples of their significance and why it is dangerous to ignore them. It should be read by students in advanced public policy and public administration programs, who should find it helpful to see the technical solutions to all sorts of policy problems in a somewhat more realistic light.

Highlights

This book is a forceful and entertaining argument why culture and values should be taken much more seriously, both by policy makers, and in the curricula of modern Public Policy and Public Administration programs
Wann immer etwas in Politik und Verwaltung nicht so klappt, wie man es sich vorgestellt hat, und es keine einfachen Erklärungen gibt, greift man gern auf,Kultur‘ als catch allErklärung zurück
Das Buch bringt für die konzeptionelle und theoretische Diskussion der Geltung kultureller Faktoren wenig, aber es liefert interessante Beispiele für deren Bedeutung

Summary

Introduction

This book is a forceful and entertaining argument why culture and values should be taken much more seriously, both by policy makers, and in the curricula of modern Public Policy and Public Administration programs. Daher ist es umso interessanter, wenn ein aufgrund seiner langjährigen Erfahrungen von der überragenden Bedeutung kultureller Faktoren überzeugter Praktiker sich dieses Themas annimmt. Die theoretische Diskussion über Kultur und ihre Dimensionen wird eher sporadisch und nicht systematisch rezipiert, und das Buch versucht auch gar nicht ernsthaft, diese theoretischen Diskussionen voranzubringen.

Results

Conclusion