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Comparative Public Policy at the Crossroads

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Arnold J. Heidenheimer
Arnold J. Heidenheimer
Affiliation:
Political Science, Washington University, St. Louis
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Abstract

This article seeks to acquaint the reader with the intellectual landscape of comparative policy studies, and to raise the level of self-consciousness of scholars active in the field. To this end it discusses why comparative policy studies emerged when and where it did in the 1970s. Then it grapples with the reasons and possible effects of the fact that the very term ‘comparative policy’ is so difficult to translate into non-English languages, and links this to a discussion of problems of conceptual cohesion. The last part assesses the prospects of a field which is seeking to gain and retain intellectual coherence and respect, though not nestled comfortably within a single discipline, and is subject to contending pulls from national and international academic, political and bureaucratic forces.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , October 1985 , pp. 441 - 465
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

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