Comparative Public Policy Analysis: Shortcomings, Pitfalls, and Avenues for the Future
Abstract Comparative public policy is a blooming research area. It also suffers from some curious blind spots. In this paper we discuss four of these: (1) the obsession with covariance, which means that important phenomena are ignored; (2) the lack of agency, which leads to underwhelming explanatory...
| Publié dans: | Politische Vierteljahresschrift. - Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 1960. - 63(2022), 2 vom: 05. Apr., Seite 295-313 |
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| Format: | Article |
| Langue: | English |
| Publié: |
2022
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| Accès à la collection: | Politische Vierteljahresschrift |
| Sujets: | Comparative Public policy Comparative political economy Policy process Quantitative methods |
| Résumé: | Abstract Comparative public policy is a blooming research area. It also suffers from some curious blind spots. In this paper we discuss four of these: (1) the obsession with covariance, which means that important phenomena are ignored; (2) the lack of agency, which leads to underwhelming explanatory models; (3) the unclear universe of cases, which means the inferential value of theories and the empirical results are unclear; and (4) the focus on outputs, even though most theories contain strong assumptions about the political process leading to certain outputs. Following this discussion, we then outline how a closer integration of policy process theories may be fruitful for future research. |
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| Description: | © The Author(s) 2022 |
| ISSN: | 0032-3470 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11615-022-00390-x |