Policy analysis or public policy analysis is a technique used in the public administration sub-field of political science to enable civil servants, nonprofit organizations, and others to examine and evaluate the available options to implement the goals of laws and elected officials. People who regularly use policy analysis skills and techniques on the job, particularly those who use it as a major part of their job duties are generally known by the title policy analyst. The process is also used in the administration of large organizations with complex policies. It has been defined as the process of "determining which of various policies will achieve a given set of goals in light of the relations between the policies and the goals."[1]
Policy analysis can be divided into two major fields:[2]
Analysis of existing policy, which is analytical and descriptive – it attempts to explain policies and their development
Analysis for new policy, which is prescriptive – it is involved with formulating policies and proposals (for example: to improve social welfare)
One definition states that:[3]
Policy Analysis is the process of identifying potential policy options that could address your problem and then comparing those options to choose the most effective, efficient, and feasible one.
The areas of interest and the purpose of analysis determine what types of analysis are conducted. A combination of two kinds of policy analyses together with program evaluation is defined as policy studies.[4] Policy analysis is frequently deployed in the public sector, but is equally applicable elsewhere, such as nonprofit organizations and non-governmental organizations. Policy analysis has its roots in systems analysis, an approach used by United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara[5] in the 1960s.
^Compare: Geva-May, Iris; Pal, Leslie A. (1999). "Policy Evaluation and Policy Analysis: Exploring the Differences". In Nagel, Stuart S. (ed.). Policy Analysis Methods. Nova Science Publishers. p. 6. ISBN 9781560726579. Retrieved 13 April 2016. ... it determines which of the various alternative public or government policies will most achieve a given set of goals in light of the relations between the policies and the goals and in light of politically feasible courses of action, it generates information and evidence in order to help the policymaker choose the most advantageous action ....
^Bührs, Ton; Bartlett, Robert V. (1993). Environmental Policy in New Zealand: The Politics of Clean and Green. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-558284-5 – via Internet Archive.
^"POLARIS: Policy Analysis". CDC.gov. Washington, DC: Office of Policy, Performance, and Evaluation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 26 April 2023. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
^Hambrick, Ralph Jr.; Bardach, Eugene; Chelimsky, Eleanor; Shadish, William R.; Deleon, Peter; Fischer, Frank; MacRae, Duncan; Whittington, Dale (November–December 1998). "Review: Building the Policy Studies Enterprise: A Work in Progress". Public Administration Review. 58 (6): 533–539. doi:10.2307/977580. JSTOR 977580.
^Radin, Beryl (2000). Beyond Machiavelli: Policy Analysis Comes of Age. Georgetown University Press. ISBN 0-87840-773-1.
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