Citizen-Based Policy

This open access book examines how social science theories can help to inform policy design and evaluation by paying attention to how citizens experience public policies. 

Whether recycling, getting screened for diseases, or enrolling in higher education, public policies generally aim at producing changes in the individuals they target. Understanding not only whether but also how these changes are achieved or fail to materialize is therefore key for both policy evaluation and design. Up until now, however, the input of social science to policy evaluation has been largely methodological rather than theoretical. Drawing on inputs from cognitive psychology, sociology, political science and public administration, this book shows how social science theories can help inform the analysis of how people experience policies. Through an interdisciplinary approach, it demonstrates the limits of the current tendency to rely on individual behavioural change, emphasizing the importance of structural reforms informed by individual experiences. 

The book will appeal to scholars and students of public policy, political science, sociology and psychology.