National Interests and Private Interests in Policy Making

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article takes up Ozga & McNay's (1985, p. 4) challenge to bring together case study analysis and sociological perspectives on policy making. It starts with a theoretical position which seeks to benefit from materialist and pluralist theories and then uses the case study to validate the position. The Maltese case of planning for Secondary Education for All (1970) demonstrates the inter‐relatedness of the macro necessities of resource and political imperatives with the micro contingencies (Jessop, 1985) of policy making, including the impact of external pressure groups and the input of state managers. Based on the planning papers and departmental files of a national system, the article is able to investigate the details of the policy process itself, relating it always to the macro structure of the Maltese educational conjuncture in the period under review. It is found that in state policy making national interests such as the expansion of the system to provide secondary education for all, are ...