Book review: Bidyut Chakrabarty and Prakash Chandra, Public Policy: Concept, Theory and Practice
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556118822028 |
| Author | Ram Naresh Sharma |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
250 Book Reviews
Bidyut Chakrabarty and Prakash Chandra, Public Policy: Concept,
Theory and Practice. New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 2016, 276 pp.,
`235 (paperback). ISBN: 978-93-515-0925-7.
DOI:10.1177/0019556118822028
Bidyut Chakrabarty, Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi, and
Prakash Chandra, Associate Professor at Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi,
have written an impressive textbook on public policy. It is specially meant for
students seeking to understand public policy and its unfolding in India’s specific
historical perspective. Although the authors have drawn on instances from Indian
experiences, they have shown special care in not missing out the contributions of
well-established writers in the field as displayed in references throughout this
book and the selected bibliography appended to after its concluding chapter.
Again, although the book is written in a text book shape, it dwells on basic concepts
which are useful to decipher the exact nature of public policy in a historical
context and pursues an argument highlighting the link that the former has with
the latter. Since public policy has to be articulated, formulated and operated in the
context of a particular economic and sociopolitical setting, the book refutes the
intention that there can be a general and universal design of public policy in view
of the critical position that the context has, in its articulation, formulation,
implementation and evaluation with reference to the dialectical interactions that
public policy has with the given socio-economic and political setting.
The textbook is developed in well-written prose enriched by scholarly analysis
in ten chapters divided into three parts—(A) conceptual issues, (B) conceptualising
Indian responses and (C) sectoral policy designs in India—besides Introduction and
Conclusion. Part A has three chapters dealing with: (a) articulation, significance
approaches of public policy; (b) its process and (c) its manifestation in the
wake of globalisation. Part B of this book delves into the conceptualisation of
Indian experience in public policy framework of processes, models, trends and its
designing at the grassroots level with special reference to Panchayati Raj in West
Bengal and Bhagidari scheme in Delhi. Part C deals with sectoral policy designs
in Indian context with special reference to environmental policy, education policy,
public health policy and MGNREGA as right-based social policy. The theoretical
aspect of public policy and its implications in Indian situation have been enriched
by scholarly presentation modestly concealed in the endnotes and a select biblio-
graphy, reflecting an extraordinarily wide range of academic enterprise. The
analysis ranges across several social science disciplines, particularly politics,
public administration, economics and sociology.
The book starts with a theoretical debate on the definition of public policy in a
historical context. While emphasising the context, it argues that public policy bereft
of context is a text without substance. The authors mention specific contextual
factors such as social, economic, political, cultural and governing contexts which
appear to play critical roles in the formulation of public policy, although they
do not exert uniform influence consequent upon their relative importance to the
circumstances and issues concerned.
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