During the past two decades public policy analysis has focused on the role of implementation as a distinct phenomenon in the creation of policy output. More recently, implementation researchers have called for a major reevaluation of the process of policy formation itself. This book presents an overview of why implementation research has contributed to this major reconsideration and offers conceptual frameworks that employ implementation research to develop a fuller understanding of the entire policy process. It attempts to narrow the divide between the assumptions of the earlier and later...