comparative policy analysis: the design of measures de c.w anderson

8/4/2019 Comparative Policy Analysis: The design of measures de C.W Anderson

1/16

The City University of New York

!"#$%&%'()*+,"-(./+01%-/2(23+45*+6*2(71+"8+9*%2:&*20:'5"&;2+01?*&2"1@":&.*3+!"#$%&%'()*+,"-('(.2A+B"->+CA+D">+E+;F.'>A+EGHE+EEHIEJE,:K-(25*?+K/3+Ph.D. Program in Political Science of the City University of New York@'%K-*+LMN3+http://www.jstor.org/stable/421437 .

0..*22*?3+EOPQEPRQEE+ES3RS

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless

you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you

may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=phd. .

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed

page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Ph.D. Program in Political Science of the City University of New Yorkand The City University of New Yorkare

collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Comparative Politics.

http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=phdhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/421437?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=phdhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=phdhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=phdhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/421437?origin=JSTOR-pdf


2/16

Research Noteesearch Noteesearch Noteesearch Noteesearch Noteesearch Note

Comparative Policy AnalysisThe Design of Measures

CharlesW. Anderson

Onceagain,politicalscientistsareturning heir attention o the concreteproblemsof theirown time andplace.After a generationof dedicationto the canons of "purescience,"there is a renewedenthusiasm or thepotentialof the disciplineas a policyscience.The desireto buildgreaterpowersof policy analysis nto politicalscienceis evidentin a wide va-rietyof recent work and discussion.Thus, in his 1969 presidentialad-dressto the AmericanPoliticalScienceAssociation,David Easton an-nounced the emergenceof the "postbehavioralevolution,"one aspectof whichis the growing eelingthatpoliticalscientistsoughtto be moreactivelyinvolved in the examinationof criticalpublic issues.l WilliamandJoyceMitchellstructured recent ntroductoryextbookso that thestudentsees publicproblemsolvingas the centralpurposeof politicalanalysis.2So, too, the Committeeon Governmental nd LegalProcessesof the Social Science ResearchCouncilsponsoredan evaluationof therole of politicalscientistsn the studyof public policies,whichthey sawas the mosturgentandtimelyquestion acingthe discipline.3 urveysofthe role of policyanalysis n the politicalscience curriculum ave beenconducted.4And a new body of literature n the field of policy makingand policy analysisis rapidly developing.5

1 David Easton, "The New Revolution in Political Science," American PoliticalScienceReview, LXIII (December 1969), 1051-61.2William and Joyce Mitchell, Political Analysis and Public Policy: An Intro-ductionto Political Science (Chicago, 1969).3Austin Ranney, ed. Political Science and Public Policy (Chicago, 1968).4Charles 0. Jones, "The Policy Approach: An Essay on Teaching AmericanPolitics," Midwest Journal of Political Science, XIII (May 1969), 284-93.5 In additionto the writingscited in other notes, books that indicate the temperof this new interest would include: Raymond A. Bauer and Kenneth H. Gergen,eds. The Study of Policy Formation (New York, 1968); Ira Sharkansky, ed.

117


CharlesW. Anderson



117


CharlesW. Anderson



117


CharlesW. Anderson



117


CharlesW. Anderson



117


CharlesW. Anderson



117


3/16

Comparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971

Of course, the term "policy analysis" does not identify a single re-search orientation. Some scholars focus on specific kinds of public poli-cies as a way of sharpening our observations and explanations of politi-cal phenomena. They seek to show how the policy-making process varies,depending on the particularissue under consideration.6Others are speci-fically concerned with the evaluation of policy outcomes and their impacton the political system.7 Still others are interested in the general, ab-stract delineation of policy-making processes.8In the present article we shall be concerned primarily with theaspects of policy analysis related to the problem of public choice andwith the role of comparative politics in that endeavor. The intellectualtask becomes that of the definition and clarification of public problems,the search for alternative public means for coping with these problems,and the analysis of probable consequences that would follow from theadoption of particular courses of public action.9 In a sense, the vantagepoint of the political scientist shifts from that of detached observer tothat of surrogatepolicy maker. An appropriate analogy is to the orienta-tion of the economist who postulates a certain set of public objectivesand seeks to determine the course of action most appropriate to theirrealization. Giovanni Sartori states well the distinction as it applies tothe problem of development: "With reference to economic develop-ment the economist is a planner, with reference to political developmentthe political scientist is a spectator. The economist intervenes: Hisknowledge is applied knowledge. The political scientist awaits: He ex-plains what happens, but does not make it happen." 10Policy Analysis in Political Science (Chicago, 1970); Theodore J. Lowi, The Endof Liberalism (New York, 1969).

6 Examples of this approach include: Theodore Lowi, "American Business,Public Policy, Case-Studies and Political Theory," World Politics, XVI (July1964), 677-715; Raymond A. Bauer, Ithiel de Sola Pool, and Lewis A. Dexter,American Business and Public Policy (New York, 1964); Lewis A. Froman,"The Categorizationof Policy Contents" in Austin Ranney, ed. Political Scienceand Public Policy, pp. 41-52.

7Edward Suchman,EvaluativeResearch (New York, 1967); Richard C. Snyderand James A. Robinson, National and International Decision-Making (New York,1961), p. 29.8 Charles E. Lindblom, The Policy-Making Process (Englewood Cliffs, 1968);David Braybrookeand Charles E. Lindblom, A Strategy of Decision (New York,

1963); Yehezkel Dror, Public Policymaking Reexamined (San Francisco, 1968).9An insightful consideration of the implications of this approach appears inJames W. Davis, Jr. and Kenneth Dolbeare, Little Groups of Neighbors: The Se-lective Service System (Chicago, 1968), pp. 191-93.10Giovanni Sartori,"PoliticalDevelopment and Political Engineering," n JohnD. Montgomery and Albert 0. Hirschman, eds. Public Policy, XVII (Cambridge[Mass.], 1968), p. 261.

118





118





118





118





118





118


4/16

Charles W. Andersonharles W. Andersonharles W. Andersonharles W. Andersonharles W. Andersonharles W. AndersonIn recentyearsthe trainingof politicalscientistshas focused on de-fining situations,while economics has developed habits of thinkingtowardstrategiesof action. One powerfulstatementof the economist'sstyle which has special applicabilityo comparative nalysis s foundinthe work of the Dutch economistand Nobel laureate,Jan Tinbergen."lThe projectI shall describe or comparativepoliticsis basicallyan ex-tension of Tinbergen'sway of thinking o the conventional oncernsofpoliticalscience. I have also been interested n definingapproaches opolicy analysis hatwerejointlypoliticalandeconomic, or theseaspectsof policymakingare never separate n practice.12

ComparativePolitics and Policy AnalysisIn the presenteffort to build an applied politicalscience, the focus isinward,on the problemsof our own society. It is the productof agenerationhatsees Westernsocietypassingthrougha most urgentandcritical period. That generationwishes to develop professionalskillsthat are useful in the diagnosisand resolutionof these problems.Thepotentialcontributionof comparativepolitics to this endeavor is notimmediatelyapparent.The postwarrenaissanceof comparativepoliticscame at a time when the problemsof otherpeoples,particularlyn thedevelopingareas,seemed far more urgentthanthose of the West. Cer-tainly, we would not want to argue that the new internationalism fAmericanpoliticalscience shouldbe abandonedand that we turn in-ward, n response o themood of thetimes. Themoretantalizing roblemis to specifyhow the skillsof systematiccomparative nalysis can con-tribute o the problem-solvingesourcesof any given society.Of coursethe cosmopolitan ntellectual,awareof developmentsandpossibilitiesn othercultures,has alwaysbeen a criticalagentof change.He has served as somethingof a brokerof good ideas betweennations,and, more often than not, he has seen foreign experiencefrom theperspectiveof the problemsof his own nation. As Alexis de Toquevillepointsout in respect o his inquiriesnto the statusandprospectsof theAmericandemocracy, "It is not, then, merely to satisfy a legitimate

11Jan Tinbergen, Economic Policy: Principles and Design (Amsterdam, 1956)and Central Planning (New Haven, 1964). It should be noted that I am dis-tinguishing Tinbergen'swork on policy analysis from his pioneering research ineconometrics. This framework was used in an interesting comparative study ofeconomic policy making: E. S. Kirschen et al., Economic Policy in Our Time,3 vols. (Chicago, 1964).12 Additional perspectiveson the uses of political economic reasoning in politi-cal science are suggested in William C. Mitchell, "The New Political Economy,"Social Research,XXXV (Spring 1968), 78-110.

119

In recentyearsthe trainingof politicalscientistshas focused on de-fining situations,while economics has developed habits of thinkingtowardstrategiesof action. One powerfulstatementof the economist'sstyle which has special applicabilityo comparative nalysis s foundinthe work of the Dutch economistand Nobel laureate,Jan Tinbergen."lThe projectI shall describe or comparativepoliticsis basicallyan ex-tension of Tinbergen'sway of thinking o the conventional oncernsofpoliticalscience. I have also been interested n definingapproaches opolicy analysis hatwerejointlypoliticalandeconomic, or theseaspectsof policymakingare never separate n practice.12



119




119




119




119




119


5/16

Comparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971curiosity hatI have examinedAmerica;my wish has been to findthereinstruction y which we mayourselvesprofit." 3In recentyears,the emphasis n comparative oliticshas been on cul-tural detachment.The stance of a de Toquevillehas been exchangedfor that of a Herskovitzor a Malinowski.Nonetheless, he longertradi-tion of comparative nalysishas aspired o policyrelevance.The classi-cal traditionof comparisonnvolved heinductiveexamination f diversecases in an attempt o establish,n AristotleandMontesquieu, rinciplesof constitutional orm, in Machiavelli,explicit maxims of statecraft.The currentlymalignedlate nineteenth-centurymphasison constitu-tionalengineering id,asHarryEcksteinpointsout, accompanyhegreatperiodof constitutionwriting n theWest. The roleof the politicalscien-tist in the diffusion of liberal democratic nstitutions n that periodperhapsparallelsthe present-daywork of economists n spreading heparaphernalia f post-Keynesianeconomic institutionsand practice.l4In the postwaremphasison the politicsof the developingnationstherewas also some consciousnessof the implicationsof analysisfor policyrecommendation.A preoccupationwith macropoliticsno doubt limits the practicalutilityof comparative nalysis.SinceAristotle, he emphasishasbeenonthe normative valuationof totalpoliticalsystems.Taxonomiesof politi-cal forms have been constructed,and the advantagesand disadvantagesof differentypesof governmentweighed.This traditionhasbeencarriedinto even the most contemporary esearch.Political developmentisusuallydiscussed n termsof the relativemeritsof mass mobilization,military, tutelary,and democraticsystems. This focus on the largestquestionof politics, he structure f the regime tself,probablyhas some-thingto do with the limitedpolicyrelevanceof the field.After all, thearchitectonic ct of governments rare. Moreover,when it happens, heexpertanalystplays little role in the outcome.By and large, compara-tive politicshas not adoptedstyles of analysispertinentto "normal"politics,to that "piecemeal ocial engineering"hat Karl Poppercom-mendsas the appropriate pproachof thepolicy analyst n a democraticsociety.'5Totalpolitical nstitutionsand processesemergeout of a specificcul-

13Alexis de Toqueville, Democracy in America (New York, 1945), 1:14-15.14 Harry Eckstein, "A Perspective on Comparative Politics, Past and Present,"in Harry Eckstein and David A. Apter, eds. Comparative Politics: A Reader(New York, 1963), pp. 10-23.15 Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies (London, 1945), 1:138-48.This, of course, is also the message of Charles E. Lindblom's notion of incre-mentalism. See especially his The Intelligence of Democracy (New York, 1965).

120

curiosity hatI have examinedAmerica;my wish has been to findthereinstruction y which we mayourselvesprofit." 3In recentyears,the emphasis n comparative oliticshas been on cul-tural detachment.The stance of a de Toquevillehas been exchangedfor that of a Herskovitzor a Malinowski.Nonetheless, he longertradi-tion of comparative nalysishas aspired o policyrelevance.The classi-cal traditionof comparisonnvolved heinductiveexamination f diversecases in an attempt o establish,n AristotleandMontesquieu, rinciplesof constitutional orm, in Machiavelli,explicit maxims of statecraft.The currentlymalignedlate nineteenth-centurymphasison constitu-tionalengineering id,asHarryEcksteinpointsout, accompanyhegreatperiodof constitutionwriting n theWest. The roleof the politicalscien-tist in the diffusion of liberal democratic nstitutions n that periodperhapsparallelsthe present-daywork of economists n spreading heparaphernalia f post-Keynesianeconomic institutionsand practice.l4In the postwaremphasison the politicsof the developingnationstherewas also some consciousnessof the implicationsof analysisfor policyrecommendation.A preoccupationwith macropoliticsno doubt limits the practicalutilityof comparative nalysis.SinceAristotle, he emphasishasbeenonthe normative valuationof totalpoliticalsystems.Taxonomiesof politi-cal forms have been constructed,and the advantagesand disadvantagesof differentypesof governmentweighed.This traditionhasbeencarriedinto even the most contemporary esearch.Political developmentisusuallydiscussed n termsof the relativemeritsof mass mobilization,military, tutelary,and democraticsystems. This focus on the largestquestionof politics, he structure f the regime tself,probablyhas some-thingto do with the limitedpolicyrelevanceof the field.After all, thearchitectonic ct of governments rare. Moreover,when it happens, heexpertanalystplays little role in the outcome.By and large, compara-tive politicshas not adoptedstyles of analysispertinentto "normal"politics,to that "piecemeal ocial engineering"hat Karl Poppercom-mendsas the appropriate pproachof thepolicy analyst n a democraticsociety.'5Totalpolitical nstitutionsand processesemergeout of a specificcul-


120



120



120



120



120


6/16

Charles W. Andersonharles W. Andersonharles W. Andersonharles W. Andersonharles W. Andersonharles W. Andersonture and history. One uproots and transplants them at great peril, if oneis able to at all. As Daniel Lerner suggests, institutions are not as apt tobe transferred as transformed, with consequences that are hard to fore-see.l6 It is hard for systematic social science to say much about the trans-fer of larger institutions except in an historical sense. The extraordinarycircumstances that lead to such diffusion of institutions is usually farremoved from the systemic, normal process of politics that afford us thebasis for such sensible judgments on the probable course of events aswe are able to make.

The problem, then, is to find an approach to comparative policyanalysis that deals more with the bits and pieces of politics than withoverall structures and processes.

The Design of Measures:A Problem for ComparativeAnalysisPolitics is always a matter of making choices from the possibilitiesoffered by a given historical situation and cultural context. From thisvantage point, the institutions and procedures of government and thelegitimate powers of the state to shape the course of economy and so-ciety become the equipment provided by a society to its leaders for thesolution of public problems. They are the tools of the trade of state-craft. Metaphorically, we can imagine, as Herbert March and JamesSimon do, that the heritage of means, embedded in political structures,is like a "warehouse full of semifabricated parts." The normal processof decision making, as they suggest, involves a long search through asequence of means and ends, until a formula for action is found in theexisting repertoire of programs and techniques.'7 The skillful policymaker, then, is he who can find appropriate possibilities in the institu-tional equipment of his society. Furthermore, seen in this way, the ca-pacities of leaders are conditioned by the nature of the possibilities thatthe political system offers them.In fact, politics seems to be more of an adaptive than an innovativeart. True political invention is relatively rare. Creative statecraft seemsfar more like husbandry-a matter of adaptingto changing conditions bynurturing selected strains and species-than like technological discoveryand invention.'8

16 Daniel Lerner, "The Transformation of Institutions,"in William B. Hamil-ton, ed. The Transfer of Institutions (Durham, 1961), pp. 3-26. Another reveal-ing commentary on such problems is David Reisman's "Football in America: AStudy of Culture Diffusion," Individualism Reconsidered (Glencoe, 1954), pp.242-57.

17 Herbert March and James Simon, Organizations(New York, 1958), p. 191.18 This seems consistent with Carl Friedrich'sreflections on political creativity

121

ture and history. One uproots and transplants them at great peril, if oneis able to at all. As Daniel Lerner suggests, institutions are not as apt tobe transferred as transformed, with consequences that are hard to fore-see.l6 It is hard for systematic social science to say much about the trans-fer of larger institutions except in an historical sense. The extraordinarycircumstances that lead to such diffusion of institutions is usually farremoved from the systemic, normal process of politics that afford us thebasis for such sensible judgments on the probable course of events aswe are able to make.





121






121






121






121






121


7/16

Comparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971omparative Politics October 1971The role of the policy analyst becomes apparent. He assists in con-

structing an inventory of potential public capabilities and resources thatmight be pertinent in any problem-solving situation; he tries to evaluatethe applicability of alternative combinations of actions; and he seeks toevaluate the potential and actual consequences of patterns of publicaction. One function of comparative policy analysis might be to extendthe process of policy search, policy formulation, and evaluation acrossthe jurisdictional frontiers of a single policy, and thus to enrich theproblem-solving capabilities of any society.

Procedural InstrumentationThe first issue of public problem solving is to decide how to decide.The practical question is how to fashion a decision-making procedurethat will result in the most adequate public choice. The problem is oneof the choice, orchestration, and sequence of techniques of participation,consultation, research, and deliberation that will insure the effectiveconsideration and resolution of a public issue.Karl Deutsch sees procedural instrumentation primarily in terms ofthe information functions of governing, and suggests the role of com-parative analysis.

The channels and institutionsby means of which a governmentor aparty obtains and uses informationconcerning its own constituencyand personneland the efficiencywith which such informationis col-lected, applied and perhapsstored for future use in records or in thememories of men, are all promising objects of comparative politicalstudies. In democracies,such studies may deal with the comparativeeffectivenessof hearings, opinion polls, "grassroots"politics, pressure-group activities and the like. In dictatorships . . . such studies maythrow some light on the ability of particularpolitical regimes or or-ganizations o appraisetheir own internalresources and obstacles, andto steer their own behavior accordingly.'9

Constitutional rules are the most general body of procedures. Thesemust be invoked for all classes of decisions committing the polity. Ad-ditional specifications may be made for particular kinds of decisions,such as consultation with economic advisors or central banking author-ities for certain types of economic decisions. There may be certain con-in Man and His Government (New York, 1963), pp. 367-84. The view also seemscompatible with Thomas L. Thorson's imaginative argument that the biologicalrather than the physical sciences provide the more propitious metaphor for po-litical inquiry.See his Biopolitics (New York, 1970).

19Karl Deutsch. The Nerves of Government (New York, 1963), p. 160.122

The role of the policy analyst becomes apparent. He assists in con-structing an inventory of potential public capabilities and resources thatmight be pertinent in any problem-solving situation; he tries to evaluatethe applicability of alternative combinations of actions; and he seeks toevaluate the potential and actual consequences of patterns of publicaction. One function of comparative policy analysis might be to extendthe process of policy search, policy formulation, and evaluation acrossthe jurisdictional frontiers of a single policy, and thus to enrich theproblem-solving capabilities of any society.


The channels and institutionsby means of which a governmentor aparty obtains and uses informationconcerning its own constituencyand personneland the efficiencywith which such informationis col-lected, applied and perhapsstored for future use in records or in thememories of men, are all promising objects of comparative politicalstudies. In democracies,such studies may deal with the comparativeeffectivenessof hearings, opinion polls, "grassroots"politics, pressure-group activities and the like. In dictatorships . . . such studies maythrow some light on the ability of particularpolitical regimes or or-ganizations o appraisetheir own internalresources and obstacles, andto steer their own behavior accordingly.'9

Constitutional rules are the most general body of procedures. Thesemust be invoked for all classes of decisions committing the polity. Ad-ditional specifications may be made for particular kinds of decisions,such as consultation with economic advisors or central banking author-ities for certain types of economic decisions. There may be certain con-in Man and His Government (New York, 1963), pp. 367-84. The view also seemscompatible with Thomas L. Thorson's imaginative argument that the biologicalrather than the physical sciences provide the more propitious metaphor for po-litical inquiry.See his Biopolitics (New York, 1970).

19Karl Deutsch. The Nerves of Government (New York, 1963), p. 160.122

The role of the policy analyst becomes apparent. He assists in con-structing an inventory of potential public capabilities and resources thatmight be pertinent in any problem-solving situation; he tries to evaluatethe applicability of alternative combinations of actions; and he seeks toevaluate the potential and actual consequences of patterns of publicaction. One function of comparative policy analysis might be to extendthe process of policy search, policy formulation, and evaluation acrossthe jurisdictional frontiers of a single policy, and thus to enrich theproblem-solving capabilities of any society.


The channels and institutionsby means of which a governmentor aparty obtains and uses informationconcerning its own constituencyand personneland the efficiencywith which such informationis col-lected, applied and perhapsstored for future use in records or in thememories of men, are all promising objects of comparative politicalstudies. In democracies,such studies may deal with the comparativeeffectivenessof hearings, opinion polls, "grassroots"politics, pressure-group activities and the like. In dictatorships . . . such studies maythrow some light on the ability of particularpolitical regimes or or-ganizations o appraisetheir own internalresources and obstacles, andto

comparative policy analysis: the design of measures de c.w anderson

Documents