Where Governments Take Us

A Guidebook for Policy Goals Analysis

(Policy Press/Bristol University Press, 2027)

By Ana Petek, Marjeta Šinko, Mario Munta, Borna Zgurić, Marko Kovačić, Nikola Baketa, Anka Kekez and Krešimir Petković

This groundbreaking book explores policy goals – a critical yet often overlooked element of public policy design. Drawing from extensive empirical research and systematic coding of real-world policy documents, the book develops an empirically grounded taxonomy of goals across diverse sectors, countries and governance levels. Combining theoretical, methodological and practical perspectives, it offers an innovative framework for understanding and analysing policy goals through their thematic and technical dimensions.

Providing a detailed methodological guide – which covers sampling, segmenting, coding procedures and reliability assessment – this invaluable book equips scholars, students and practitioners with robust tools for qualitative content analysis. It demonstrates the crucial role of goals in shaping effective policy making and provides essential insights that can be applied to individual cases or comparative analyses in both academic and practical policy settings.

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