1. What
is
policy
analysis?
Journal
entry
24/09/2010
Steven
Lauwers
According
to
Lester
Salamon,
“the
central
preoccupation
of
this
field
(policy
analysis)
has
been
the
application
of
sophisticated
techniques
of
microeconomics
to
the
analysis
of
public
problems.”
i
But
didn’t
Professor
Dr.
H.
Anheier
just
tell
us
in
his
last
lecture
that
one
cannot
use
microeconomics
as
the
only
approach
to
explain
public
policy?
So
what
does
policy
analysis
analyze,
and
what
is
its
preoccupation?
I
would
like
to
assume
policy
analysts’
preoccupation
is
the
creation
of
good
public
policy
through
a
critical
analysis
of
what
is
going
on
in
today’s
“new
governance”.
The
theory
of
“new
governance”
emphasizes
what
is
perhaps
the
central
reality
of
public
problem
solving
for
the
foreseeable
future:
problems
have
become
too
complex
for
governments
to
handle
on
their
own,
which
required
them
to
collaborate
with
third
parties
ii.
We
need
to
be
aware
of
this
shift
from
hierarchically
structured
public
organization
towards
a
network
of
actors,
all
with
different
agendas,
to
understand
the
sheer
complexity
of
policy
analysis.
This
of
course
raises
the
issue
of
accountability
and
transparency:
in
such
a
complex
network,
what
are
the
rules,
who
defines
them
and
how
are
they
defined?
In
other
words,
can
every
actor,
including
the
government,
be
kept
accountable
for
its
decisions
and
the
possible
consequences?
The
only
way
a
political
analyst
can
grasp
everything
that
is
going
on
in
this
immensely
complex
network
is
by
making
it
less
complex,
by
breaking
it
into
small
pieces
and
understand
how
the
individual
parts
relate.
For
that,
policy
analysis
requires
tools
to
understand
the
complex
network
that
governance
now
is.
These
tools
1
allow
the
analyst
to
get
to
the
grassroots
of
the
different
relationships
in
these
networks
and
to
predict
what
will
happen
-­‐
or
explain
what
is
going
on.
And
yes,
microeconomics
is
one
of
the
perspectives
through
which
policy
analysis
will
approach
a
current
situation
to
understand
certain
decisions,
but
it
will
never
be
the
only
one.
1
These
tools
are
too
many
and
too
complex
of
structure
to
be
able
to
list
all
of
them
here.
I
would
like
to
refer
to
L.
Salamon’s
text
you
find
in
the
endnotes.

2. The
basis
of
governance,
in
whatever
form
we
encounter
it,
should
be
evidence
iii:
evidence,
acquired
through
thorough
research
that
allows
to
critically
analyze
–
and
improve
–
the
public
policy
currently
in
place.
And
that
is
where
policy
analysis
comes
in:
whoever
defines
the
problem
has
control
of
the
design
of
solutions.
iv
By
analyzing
the
outcomes
of
public
policy,
we
can
define
the
input
that
is
required
to
improve
public
policy
–
and
if
it
is
necessary
to
do
so.
Professor
Dr.
M.
Stürmer
told
us
in
his
guest
lecture
that
history
is
a
dialogue
between
the
living
and
the
death,
that
history
defines
the
future.
And
in
assuming
policy
analysis
helps
to
define
public
policy,
our
analysis
of
today’s
governance
will
help
to
figure
out
how
the
future
is
best
managed.
We
better
get
started.
i
Salamon,
L.
M.
(2002):
The
New
Governance
and
the
Tools
of
Public
Action:
An
Introduction,
p.
7
ii
Salamon,
L.
M.
(2002):
idem.
iii
Dunworth,
T.
et
al
(2003):
Beyond
Ideology,
Politics,
and
Guesswork:
The
Case
for
Evidence-­Based
Policy.
The
Urban
Institute,
Revised
Edition
2008.
iv
Moran
M.
et
al
(2006).
The
Oxford
Handbook
of
Public
Policy.
Ingram
H.,
Schneider
A.
L.,
Chapter
8:
Policy
Analysis
for
Democracy,
p.
174.
(Quote
Bardach
et
al)