Samuel Workman
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 4383753 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Samuel Workman |
| PRENOMES | Samuel |
| SOBRENOME | Workman |
| ASSINATURA | WORKMAN S |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Oklahoma |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3924-2694 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 15 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 325 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 15 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2006 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 7 |
The other side of chaos Covid-19, federal spending, and local government volatility
The dynamics of issue attention in policy process scholarship
This article examines the policy topics and theoretical debates found in Policy Studies Journal (PSJ) articles over the last three decades. PSJ is the premier journal for scholars studying policy processes, seeking to create generalizable theories across the spectrum of specific policy areas. To examine trends in PSJ over time, we collected 1314 abstracts from PSJ articles. We identified abstracts that mention major theories of the policy process…
Organisation, information processing, and policy change in US federal bureaucracies
We examine the shape of policy change in the US federal bureaucracy. Punctuated equilibrium suggests institutional friction and limited attention as prime influences on policy change. We build on this literature by exploring how organisational forms shape policy change. We also conceptualise the key difference between budgets and laws as measures and use this distinction to motivate our new approach to modelling the shape of policy change. We use…
Administrative Informatics
The purpose of this roundtable is to present, argue, and evaluate the role of administrative informatics in behavioral public administration. This essay is broken up into three sections. The first section introduces the substantive focus of administrative informatics and how it can be studied. The second section introduces the central concepts required to establish a new approach to scientific knowledge production. The final section provides a sh…
Methods of the Policy Process
Measuring interest group agendas in regulatory proposals
We introduce a new way to measure interest group agendas and demonstrate an approach to extending the CAP topic coding scheme to policy domains at lower levels of analysis. We use public comments on regulatory proposals in US education policy to examine the topics contained in policy arguments. We map the education policy space using a data set of 493 comments and 5315 hand-coded comment paragraphs. A unique measurement model accounts for group a…
Thinking in Public about Public Affairs
Drawing practical lessons from punctuated equilibrium theory
Political organisations and policymakers contend with an ever-deepening sea of information regarding policy problems, constituent demands and solutions. Moreover, the problems confronted by modern governments are complex, multi-dimensional and boundary-spanning. This article leverages studies of national and subnational information processing and policy change to identify potential bottlenecks of information and patterns of policy feedback. We id…
Knot Policy Theory
This research note synthesizes the main theoretical frameworks in public policy. The concept of policy knots ties policy cycles, multiple streams, punctuated equilibrium, and other frameworks into one useful analytical tool. We introduce two particular policy knots—the granny knot and the clinch knot—to demonstrate the utility of the concept. As an illustration, we examine climate change policy in the United States in order to show the challenges…
The Dynamics of Bureaucracy in the U.S. Government
This book develops a new theoretical perspective on bureaucratic influence and congressional agenda setting based on limited attention and government information processing. Using a comprehensive new data set on regulatory policymaking across the entire federal bureaucracy, Samuel Workman develops the theory of the dual dynamics of congressional agenda setting and bureaucratic problem solving as a way to understand how the US government generates…
Information Processing and Policy Dynamics
In this article, we trace the evolution of punctuated equilibrium theories of the policy process to the development of a full theory of government information processing. Noting that punctuated equilibrium is one realization of a larger theory of government information processing, we outline a research agenda for the study of agenda setting, policy dynamics, and information flows in the policy process. In doing so, we relate the study of governme…
Widespread Policy Disruption and Interest Mobilization
We consider the involvement of different interests in policymaking following disruptions that affect the agendas of multiple subsystems. The policy process literature suggests that increased policy uncertainty and jurisdictional ambiguity could lead to substantial upheavals in interest involvement. We address these possibilities in studying the mobilization of different interests after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, for eight disrup…
Widespread Policy Disruption
We address theoretical and empirical aspects of policy disruptions that affect multiple areas of policymaking. Our theorizing leads us to consider the effects of widespread disruptions in gaining the attention of elected officials, in affecting policymaking, and in reshaping the involvement of federal agencies. Our empirical analyses concern the threat of terrorism in the United States and its implications for public risk subsystems over the past…
Organizing Attention
Federal agencies are routinely confronted with requests from policymakers that they must address in some manner. These range from routine directives to cut through red tape to exceptional demands to alter policy priorities. We theorize that how attention is organized by public bureaucracies affects their responses. We draw on a variety of scholarship about public bureaucracies to develop a theory about the bureaucratic organization of attention a…
Policy Coherence and Policy Domains
Policy scholars generally agree that greater coherence of policies is desirable, but the concept is under‐theorized and has received little empirical examination. This research examines the policy coherence of 18 policy domains and considers institutional factors that affect variation among them. There is considerable variation in coherence among substantive, regional, and identity‐based policy domains. Greater degrees of policy coherence exist f…
Information Processing and Policy Dynamics
In this article, we trace the evolution of punctuated equilibrium theories of the policy process to the development of a full theory of government information processing. Noting that punctuated equilibrium is one realization of a larger theory of government information processing, we outline a research agenda for the study of agenda setting, policy dynamics, and information flows in the policy process. In doing so, we relate the study of governme…
Policy Coherence and Policy Domains
Policy scholars generally agree that greater coherence of policies is desirable, but the concept is under‐theorized and has received little empirical examination. This research examines the policy coherence of 18 policy domains and considers institutional factors that affect variation among them. There is considerable variation in coherence among substantive, regional, and identity‐based policy domains. Greater degrees of policy coherence exist f…
Organizing Attention
Federal agencies are routinely confronted with requests from policymakers that they must address in some manner. These range from routine directives to cut through red tape to exceptional demands to alter policy priorities. We theorize that how attention is organized by public bureaucracies affects their responses. We draw on a variety of scholarship about public bureaucracies to develop a theory about the bureaucratic organization of attention a…
Widespread Policy Disruption
We address theoretical and empirical aspects of policy disruptions that affect multiple areas of policymaking. Our theorizing leads us to consider the effects of widespread disruptions in gaining the attention of elected officials, in affecting policymaking, and in reshaping the involvement of federal agencies. Our empirical analyses concern the threat of terrorism in the United States and its implications for public risk subsystems over the past…
Drawing practical lessons from punctuated equilibrium theory
Political organisations and policymakers contend with an ever-deepening sea of information regarding policy problems, constituent demands and solutions. Moreover, the problems confronted by modern governments are complex, multi-dimensional and boundary-spanning. This article leverages studies of national and subnational information processing and policy change to identify potential bottlenecks of information and patterns of policy feedback. We id…
Widespread Policy Disruption and Interest Mobilization
We consider the involvement of different interests in policymaking following disruptions that affect the agendas of multiple subsystems. The policy process literature suggests that increased policy uncertainty and jurisdictional ambiguity could lead to substantial upheavals in interest involvement. We address these possibilities in studying the mobilization of different interests after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, for eight disrup…
Knot Policy Theory
This research note synthesizes the main theoretical frameworks in public policy. The concept of policy knots ties policy cycles, multiple streams, punctuated equilibrium, and other frameworks into one useful analytical tool. We introduce two particular policy knots—the granny knot and the clinch knot—to demonstrate the utility of the concept. As an illustration, we examine climate change policy in the United States in order to show the challenges…
The dynamics of issue attention in policy process scholarship
This article examines the policy topics and theoretical debates found in Policy Studies Journal (PSJ) articles over the last three decades. PSJ is the premier journal for scholars studying policy processes, seeking to create generalizable theories across the spectrum of specific policy areas. To examine trends in PSJ over time, we collected 1314 abstracts from PSJ articles. We identified abstracts that mention major theories of the policy process…
Organisation, information processing, and policy change in US federal bureaucracies
We examine the shape of policy change in the US federal bureaucracy. Punctuated equilibrium suggests institutional friction and limited attention as prime influences on policy change. We build on this literature by exploring how organisational forms shape policy change. We also conceptualise the key difference between budgets and laws as measures and use this distinction to motivate our new approach to modelling the shape of policy change. We use…
Thinking in Public about Public Affairs
The other side of chaos Covid-19, federal spending, and local government volatility
Policy Coherence and Policy Domains
Policy scholars generally agree that greater coherence of policies is desirable, but the concept is under‐theorized and has received little empirical examination. This research examines the policy coherence of 18 policy domains and considers institutional factors that affect variation among them. There is considerable variation in coherence among substantive, regional, and identity‐based policy domains. Greater degrees of policy coherence exist f…
Organizing Attention
Federal agencies are routinely confronted with requests from policymakers that they must address in some manner. These range from routine directives to cut through red tape to exceptional demands to alter policy priorities. We theorize that how attention is organized by public bureaucracies affects their responses. We draw on a variety of scholarship about public bureaucracies to develop a theory about the bureaucratic organization of attention a…
Information Processing and Policy Dynamics
In this article, we trace the evolution of punctuated equilibrium theories of the policy process to the development of a full theory of government information processing. Noting that punctuated equilibrium is one realization of a larger theory of government information processing, we outline a research agenda for the study of agenda setting, policy dynamics, and information flows in the policy process. In doing so, we relate the study of governme…
Widespread Policy Disruption and Interest Mobilization
We consider the involvement of different interests in policymaking following disruptions that affect the agendas of multiple subsystems. The policy process literature suggests that increased policy uncertainty and jurisdictional ambiguity could lead to substantial upheavals in interest involvement. We address these possibilities in studying the mobilization of different interests after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, for eight disrup…
Widespread Policy Disruption
We address theoretical and empirical aspects of policy disruptions that affect multiple areas of policymaking. Our theorizing leads us to consider the effects of widespread disruptions in gaining the attention of elected officials, in affecting policymaking, and in reshaping the involvement of federal agencies. Our empirical analyses concern the threat of terrorism in the United States and its implications for public risk subsystems over the past…
The Dynamics of Bureaucracy in the U.S. Government
This book develops a new theoretical perspective on bureaucratic influence and congressional agenda setting based on limited attention and government information processing. Using a comprehensive new data set on regulatory policymaking across the entire federal bureaucracy, Samuel Workman develops the theory of the dual dynamics of congressional agenda setting and bureaucratic problem solving as a way to understand how the US government generates…
Knot Policy Theory
This research note synthesizes the main theoretical frameworks in public policy. The concept of policy knots ties policy cycles, multiple streams, punctuated equilibrium, and other frameworks into one useful analytical tool. We introduce two particular policy knots—the granny knot and the clinch knot—to demonstrate the utility of the concept. As an illustration, we examine climate change policy in the United States in order to show the challenges…
Drawing practical lessons from punctuated equilibrium theory
Political organisations and policymakers contend with an ever-deepening sea of information regarding policy problems, constituent demands and solutions. Moreover, the problems confronted by modern governments are complex, multi-dimensional and boundary-spanning. This article leverages studies of national and subnational information processing and policy change to identify potential bottlenecks of information and patterns of policy feedback. We id…
Thinking in Public about Public Affairs
Measuring interest group agendas in regulatory proposals
We introduce a new way to measure interest group agendas and demonstrate an approach to extending the CAP topic coding scheme to policy domains at lower levels of analysis. We use public comments on regulatory proposals in US education policy to examine the topics contained in policy arguments. We map the education policy space using a data set of 493 comments and 5315 hand-coded comment paragraphs. A unique measurement model accounts for group a…
Methods of the Policy Process
Administrative Informatics
The purpose of this roundtable is to present, argue, and evaluate the role of administrative informatics in behavioral public administration. This essay is broken up into three sections. The first section introduces the substantive focus of administrative informatics and how it can be studied. The second section introduces the central concepts required to establish a new approach to scientific knowledge production. The final section provides a sh…
The dynamics of issue attention in policy process scholarship
This article examines the policy topics and theoretical debates found in Policy Studies Journal (PSJ) articles over the last three decades. PSJ is the premier journal for scholars studying policy processes, seeking to create generalizable theories across the spectrum of specific policy areas. To examine trends in PSJ over time, we collected 1314 abstracts from PSJ articles. We identified abstracts that mention major theories of the policy process…
Organisation, information processing, and policy change in US federal bureaucracies
We examine the shape of policy change in the US federal bureaucracy. Punctuated equilibrium suggests institutional friction and limited attention as prime influences on policy change. We build on this literature by exploring how organisational forms shape policy change. We also conceptualise the key difference between budgets and laws as measures and use this distinction to motivate our new approach to modelling the shape of policy change. We use…
The other side of chaos Covid-19, federal spending, and local government volatility
Political science (13 obras) · Law (12 obras) · Law (11 obras) · Economics (10 obras) · Policy Transfer and Learning (10 obras) · Computer Science (9 obras) · Public Policy and Administration Research (8 obras) · Public Administration (7 obras) · Sociology (7 obras) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (6 obras)