Peter deLeon

Reinventing the policy sciences: Three steps back to the future

This article examines the contemporary condition of the policy sciences in terms of its shortcomings, which can largely be attributed to an over reliance on instrumental rationality; the complexity of the problem contexts; and an increasingly technocratic orientation. These have combined to distance the policy sciences from their original multidisciplinary character and goals of human dignity and democratic governance. The essay argues that a return to these first principles requires three inter-related steps: a revision of the present policy sciences paradigm; the development of more democratic or participatory procedures; and a focus on problem definition. The article concludes by proposing means by which these steps could be operationalized.Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. — George Bernard Shaw, ‘Maxims for Revolutionaries,’Man and Superman (1903).

The Democratic Ethos and Public Management

One of the few issues on which public management scholars agree in theory is the centrality of the democratic ethos. Public policy has recently paid attention to more democratic forms of policy making (e.g., participatory policy analysis), and public administration has periodically studied and advocated increased citizen participation in the processes of government. But the field of public management scholarship has yet to make a similar commitment to the democratic ethos, despite some contemporary practices (flattened hierarchies, self-managing teams) that represent democratization in public organizations. This essay reviews reasons why public management should be more democratic, some ways in which it is not, and proposes some ways in which the focus of scholarship and practice should be directed.

Comparative policy analysis: Déjà vu all over again?

During the 1970s and early 1980s, many policy analysts were engaged in comparative policy analysis. For a variety of reasons, the most important of which being a general neglect of the particular policy contexts, the use of comparative policy analysis fell largely into disuse. There are now a number of emerging reasons why a renaissance in comparative policy analysis seems much more propitious: a growing number of transnational policy issues; advances in communication technologies, such that physical distances have been “virtually” eliminated; and new conceptual bases. All of these combine to produce a new demand for comparative policy studies.

Comparative Policy Analysis

ConclusionAs editors, we would be remiss to submit that insufficient comparative policy analysis has been done without making explicit suggestions for further research. One critical problem is that the lack of comparable data remains a major hindrance to comparative work. This, in turn leads into the need for a larger inventory of careful cross-national case studies and primary data sources. Although significant advances have been made in data collection and analysis in recent years, these have occurred primarily in areas where quantification is relatively easy, such as economic and demographic statistics.See, e.g., Bruce M. Russett et al., World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964). Two related specific avenues for further research are suggested by reflections on the current limits of comparative analysis. First, more conceptual work based in solid methodology is needed if policy studies are to deal with complexities involved in comparative efforts. As part of this, theoretical constructs must be matched with carefully derived data and evidence, both quantitative and qualitative. As Lasswell has noted, the vitality of the comparative method will depend on “whether the expansion of the stock of ‘facts’ accepted as relevant is accompanied by ‘methodological’ changes that render facts indispensable” to the understanding and management of the policy process.Harold D. Lasswell, “The Future of the Comparative Method,” Comparative Politics, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Oct. 1968), p. 5. Although Lasswell is concerned with the comparative study of governments, his comments, especially those treating his delineation of the policy process, are relevant to comparative policy analyses. Also, see Harold D. Lasswell, A Pre-View of Policy Sciences (New York: American Elsevier, 1971). Second, more work should be done to explain and expand upon cultural variables. As this task is addressed in more detail, we should be better able to appreciate the effects of cultural factors on the policy process.In conclusion, it seems especially appropriate to reassert the value of comparative analysis now, when the policy sciences appear to be at a critical juncture.Garry D. Brewer, “The Policy Sciences Emerge: To Nurture and Structure a Discipline,” Policy Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Sept. 1974), pp. 239–244. From both domestic and international perspectives, the growing appreciation of crossnational policy research and policy impacts underlines the need for comparative analysis. It is clear that the interest in and importance of policy studies have grown in recent years, but the borders of the constituency remain vague. Efforts to delineate and refine the outlines of the field will almost surely increase. We think that this essay and the ones that follow argue strongly for the inclusion of the comparative dimension.

Business responses to environmental and social protection policies: toward a framework for analysis

This conceptual paper seeks to advance neo-institutional work that has tradi- tionally portrayed environmental and social protection policies as constraints followed by businesses. Drawing from the policy sciences literature, we propose that in the United States, businesses tend to show increasing resistance as the protective policy process moves from initiation to selection and growing cooperation thereafter. Most importantly, we also contribute to the neo-institutional theory literature by positing that this inverted U-shaped policy process-business response relationship proposed for the U.S. context may be moderated by variations in the level of democracy, system of interest representation, regulatory approach, and national income.

Afterward: the once and future state of policy termination

This essay reviews the five articles in this symposium in light of termination research conducted over the past twenty years. The “underattention” of termination during the past two decades is discussed in the painted context of the attention paid to termination by the recent “Contract With America,” a plan by Congressional Republicans to eliminate selected government programs. One conclusion is that termination is still not easy, especially when strange bedfellows, motivated by self interest, join forces to stay the termination cleaver. Another issue is how to terminate programs in a humane manner, that is, without sacrificing essential employees or services. Despite the sparse attention paid to termination by academicians, termination remains an enduring and relevant public policy issue.

The evaluation of technology R&D: A continuing dilemma

Abstract The development of new and advanced technologies, especially those with significant potential social effects, needs to be assessed as part of an on-going process. This paper proposes an evaluation agenda for technology RD the institutional context; comparisons to alternative options; and the social effects.

The influence of analysis on U.S. defense policys

Much of the policy literature holds that rigorous policy analysis as practiced in the defense policymaking community has a much greater influence than analysis performed in the nondefense or ‘domestic’ sectors. This argument is examined by, first, offering several examples of quantitatively driven decisions in the U.S. Department of Defense and, second, inquiring more precisely as to the nature of the actual decision variables. The conclusion is that the defense and domestic modes of policy analysis and decisionmaking are not as disparate as they are usually perceived. In practice, both camps share many of the same problems and could benefit from shared solutions.

Things fall apart; The center cannot hold: The crisis in governing

In the United States the Reagan Administration has proposed a number of policy initiatives which have the effect of decentralizing governmental services. The services, until recently, had increasingly become the responsibility of the federal (i.e., centralized) government. This paper inquires as to the possible effects of such decentralization tendencies. Drawing upon approaches advocated by the policy sciences and futures studies, the analysis weighs goals, trends, and conditions to propose a set of projections and policies.

Freeze: The Literature of the Nuclear Weapons Debate,

Abstract : This report deals with the authors views on debates and examines same of the literature which has, by and large, informed the anti-nuclear movement and inquires as to the intelligence of the debate.