Hi, this is Jeff Berry to introduce Chapter 17, "Policymaking." This chapter is the first one in Part VI, the final section of the book. Indeed, all of the chapters in Part VI deal with public policy. In the three that follow, "Economic Policy," "Domestic Policy," and "Global Policy," each cover one large area of government activity.

But Chapter 17 is different from the three that follow in that it provides an overview of the policymaking process instead of focusing on any one policy area. While it serves to introduce the three subsequent chapters, it also works to pull together many of the chapters that precede it. In Part IV of the book, for example, we learn about different institutions of government: Congress, the Presidency, the Bureaucracy, and the Courts. Chapter 17, "Policymaking," looks at the policymaking process as it exists across separate institutions.

We begin the chapter by asking you to think of the sequence of the public policymaking process. We start with the emergence of a problem, then discuss policy formulated to address that problem, then the implementation of that solution, and finally, the evaluation of how well that solution worked.

In looking at government more broadly, rather than focusing on just one of its parts, consider the problems that the very size of government causes. In particular, think about how different parts of government working on the same problem can lead to fragmentation. As a result, efforts must be made to try to coordinate the response of government so that it maximizes its effectiveness.

This is no small challenge: government is complex. And yet government manages to work, sometimes very well, sometimes not so well. But no matter how frustrated we get with government, we must persevere in trying to find ways of improving its performance.