Political Institutions and Public Policy

The discipline of public administration and public policy is experiencing a renaissance of research in which explicit attention is paid to political insti­ tutions. This renewed interest in institutions is not simply an extension of the 'classical' paradigm in the study of public administration, which peaked in the 1920s and 1930s, but offers a new orientation on political institutions. While 'classical' institutionalism is known for its focus on the formal stroctures of the executive branch of