FROM POLICY SCIENCE TO POLICY ANALYSIS: A QUARTER CENTURY OF PROGRESS?

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis essay on the intellectual history of policy analysis traces the field from Merriam's concept of “intelligent planning” and Lass‐well's vision of “policy sciences” to the present. Lasswell's vision is seen as a relevant if unrealized one in general dimensions. It is argued that the tie of policy analysis to traditional issues in political science is unbreakable and, because of this, attempts to develop an interdisciplinary policy science premised on the supposed unifying force of a common methodological core have led to fragmentation, not theoretical integration. The emergence of the synoptic/empirico‐rational tradition and anti‐synoptic/neo‐pluralist traditions in policy analysis in the 1950's and 1960's are discussed and strengths and weaknesses noted. Divisions over the question of values and normative theory are highlighted. A concluding section discusses alternative views on the proper scope of policy analysis as an emerging discipline, contrasting the “handmaiden” and “ivory tower” alternatives. A six‐dimension outline of a map for policy analysis as a field is presented and the continued utility of Lasswellian concerns emphasized in contrast to the stalemated debate between synoptic and anti‐synoptic viewpoints in American policy analysis.