The Research Framework
The framework used in analysis for this study is the systems framework, adapted from David Easton’s (1957) “An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems”. This framework is widely used in analyzing political and policy-making processes, taking into consideration the inputs, process, outputs, and feedback and how these elements relate and affect each other. In the field of public administration, the same framework was also used to analyze the administrative system (e.g. Sharkansky). The strength of the framework can be attributed to its reliance on information theory (input, output, feedback) as it conceives the process of policy-making as being essentially cyclical and as a response of the political system to the forces brought upon it (inputs) from the environment (Easton, 1957). This framework as adopted and applied to the study is illustrated in the diagram in the next page.