"Important reforms may be enacted, but what happens after that? Do the new laws take hold or do they fade away? What accounts for the striking variety in results? In this excellent new book, Eric Patashnik sets a new standard in addressing these questions."-- David Mayhew, Yale University "Eric Patashnik has written a fascinating account of why some general-interest policy reforms stick and others fall apart. By looking at general-interest reform as a dynamic process that unfolds over time--rather than as a single moment of legislative triumph--Patashnik offers a compelling analysis of what kinds of reforms are likely to create coalitions and conditions that will sustain them over time. This is political science at its best, a must-read for policymakers and scholars across the disciplines."-- Julian Zelizer, Princeton University ''Seemingly momentous policy reforms are often unceremoniously abandoned in subsequent policymaking. In this penetrating and important book, Eric Patashnik explores the political circumstances that enable reforms to endure. Using a wide-ranging set of case studies--from taxes to agriculture to healthcare, among others--he shows that lasting reform is partly a matter of strategy and design."-- Paul J.

Quirk, University of British Columbia "This book is clearly focused on a simple, important question: over time, why do some general interest reforms succeed more than others? Patashnik is absolutely right that scholars and journalists have focused far more on the enactment of reform than its subsequent implementation. Reforms at Risk fills a large void in the public policy literature."-- Christopher Howard, College of William and Mary.