Book review: policy alienation and the power of professionals: confronting new policies by Lars Tummers

Why do public professionals resist policy changes? In this book Lars Tummers argues that we can use the concept of policy alienation - a “general cognitive state of psychological disconnection from a policy” that professionals can feel - to understand why. Case studies cover the implementation of new health policies in the Netherlands and discuss the factors that influence whether policies are resisted. Julián López-Murcia finds the policy alienation concept to be a significant contribution to debates regarding the organization of public services.