Polarization is widely diagnosed as a major cause in the decline of evidence-based policy making and public engagement-based styles of policy making.

Public Policy, Governance and Polarization seeks to provide a theoretical foundation for scholars and policy makers who need to understand the powerful and often disruptive forces that have arisen in Europe and North America over the past decade.

Researchers, and future policymakers in fields such as public administration, public management and public policy need to that understand how institutional design, corporatist interest group systems and different pedagogical approaches may help them understand and work beyond policy polarization.

David K. Jesuit is a Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Central Michigan University (CMU), USA.

Russell Alan Williams is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Memorial University, Canada.

Table of Contents

Introduction and Overview: Polarization Explained and Applied

Jeremy Castle, David K. Jesuit and Russell Alan Williams

Section 1: Polarized Mass Publics and Electoral Politics

1. Concerted Action in Complex Environments: A Comparison of Industrial Restructuring in Mid-Sized City-Regions in Canada and the United States

Charles Conteh

2. Lines in the Sand: How Americans' Polarization Results in Unwillingness to Accept Compromise Policy Outcomes

J. Cherie Strachan, Daniel M. Shea and Michael Wolf

3. Can Unequal Distributions of Wealth Influence Vote Choice? A Comparative Study of Germany, Sweden and the United States

Lindsay Flynn and Piotr R. Paradowski

Section 2: An Example of Polarization: The Climate Change Debate

4. Consensual Environmental Policy in the Anthropocene: Governing What Humanity Hath Wrought

Robert Bartlett and Walter F. Baber

5. Polarized Climate Debate? Institutions and Structure in Subnational Policymaking

Russell Williams and Susan Morrissey Wyse

6. Polarised business interests: EU climate policy-making during the "Great Recession"

Raffael Hanschmann

Section 3: Potential Remedies to Polarized Policymaking

7. Comparative National Energy Policies and Climate Change Actions in Countries with Divided and Unified Governments: Reflections, Projections and Opportunities for Improved Pedagogy

Thomas Rohrer and Pamela S. Gates

8. Exploring the Mediating Effects of Institutions on Polarization and Political Conflict: Evidence from Michigan Cities

Nathan Grasse, Thomas Greitens, Lawrence Sych, and David Jesuit

9. Political Polarization, Fiscal Stress and Financing Public Universities: A Comparative Analysis of the Ontario and Michigan Public Policy Experience

Lawrence Sych and Marcy Taylor

10. The Silence is Deafening: A Look into Financial Services Sector Policymaking in Canada

Ian Roberge

Conclusion: Managing Polarization to Make Governance Work

David K. Jesuit and Russell Alan Williams