ABSTRACT
The reasons for studying budgeting are many. The bonds between budgeting and “politiking” are intimate. Realistic budgets are an expression of practical politics. The allocation of resources necessarily reflects the distribution of power. Budgeting is so basic it must reveal the norms by which men live in a particular political culture—for it is through the choices inherent in limited resources that consensus is established and conflict is generated. The authority of government is made manifest by its ability not only to make a budget but also to make it stick. Public policymaking in action—which programs to benefit whom will be established or maintained at what levels of support?—is epitomized through the budget.
