6 CHAPTERI Analysis
Policy
governments ought to pursue Learning why governments do what they do and what
the consequences of their actions are is not the same as saying what governments
bringing about changes in what they do. Policy advocacy requires the skills of
rhetoric persiasion, organization, and activism. Policy analysis encourages scholars
and students to attack critical policy issues with the tools of systematic inquiry. There
is an implied assumption in policy analysis that developing scientific knowledge
about the forces shaping public policy and the consequences of public policy is itself
a socially relevant activity and that such analysis is a prerequisite to prescription, advo-
cacy, and activism.
Specifically, policy analysis involves: