This handbookprovides a systematic overview of the study of policy styles provided by leading experts in the field. It unites theoretical bases and advancements in practice, ranging from the fundamentals of policy styles to its place in greater policy studies.

1. Introduction: Studying Policy Styles at the National Level and Beyond Section 1: Institutional Styles Part 1: National Policy Styles: Concepts and Cases 2. National Policy Styles in Theory and Practice 3. Adversarial Legalism and the American Style of Policymaking 4. Experimentalism as a Policy Style: The Case of China 5. From the ‘Rationalist Consensus’ to ‘Exclusive Incrementalism’: The ‘New’ German Policy Style 6. Authoritarism as a Policy Style Part 2: Sectoral Policy Styles: Concepts and Cases 7. The Concept of a Sectoral Policy Style 8. Three Worlds of Social Policy Styles: Lasting Legacies or a Thing of the Past? 9. Policy Styles in Healthcare: Understanding Variations in Health Systems 10. Operationalising and Explaining Environmental Policy Styles 11. Finance and Monetary Policy Styles Part 3: Administrative and Governance Styles 12. The Concept of Administrative Styles 13. The Styles of Civil Service Systems 14. Empirically Assessing Administrative Styles as Bureaucratic Routines 15. Convergence in Administrative Implementation Styles in the European Union? 16. Governance Styles: Re-thinking Governance and Public Policy Section 2: Process Styles Part 4: Agenda-Setting Styles 17. Media-driven Agenda-setting Styles 18. Interest Groups and Agenda Setting Styles 19. The Politics of Parliamentary Agenda-Setting Styles Part 5: Formulation, Advisory and Design Styles 20. Policy Formulation Styles: Policy Design and Non-Design 21. Policy Over- and Underreaction as Policy Style 22. Styles of Policy Advice: A Typology for Comparing the Standard Operating Procedures for the Provision of Policy Advice Part 6: Executive and Leadership Decision-Making Styles 23. Executive Policy Styles 24. Leaders’ and Managers’ Decision-making Styles 25. Varieties of Executive Styles Part 7: Implementation Styles 26. Instruments and Implementation Styles 27. Regulatory Styles and Their Implications 28. Implementation Style Dynamics: Changing Patterns of Instrument Choice over Time? Part 8: Evaluation Styles 29. When Policy Learning meets Policy Styles 30. Participatory vs Expert Evaluation Styles 31. Policy Evaluation Styles 32. Conclusion: Institutional and Process Dimensions of Policy Styles: Key Insights