Theories & Theorists for Public Policy & Administration: Public Policy & Administration Theories

Below you will find a list of some of the theories that have been used in Public Policy & Administration research in the past. You can search for more information on each theory by following the steps outlined in the following Quick Answer:

Please keep in mind that this list of theories is not exhaustive. You can find other relevant theories by browsing in databases and reading scholarly literature.  

• Advocacy Coalition Framework
• Bounded Rationality Model
• Classical Public Administration Theory
• Contact Theory
• Effort-Reward Imbalance Theory
• Elite/Mass Model
• Game Theory
• General Systems Theory
• Group Theory
• Human Capital Theory
• Incrementalism Model
• Institutional Analysis and Development Theory
• Institutional Model
• Institutional Rational Choice Theory
• Market Exchange Model
• Mixed Scanning Theory
• Multiple Streams Theory
• Narrative Policy Theory
• New Public Management
• New Public Management Theory
• Optimal-Normative Model
• Person Environment-Fit Theory
• Pluralist Theory
• Policy Design Theory
• Policy Diffusion Theory
• Policy Learning Theory
• Postmodern Public Administration Theory
• Process Theory
• Public Choice Theory
• Public Good Theory
• Punctuated Equilibrium Theory
• Rational Model
• Resource Dependence Theory
• Social Construction Theory
• Social-Ecological Systems Theory
• Streams & Windows Model
• Systems Model
• Uneven and Combined Development (UCD) Theory
• Womanist Theory