Policy work as a reform project
Policy work as a reform project

Summary/Abstract: One aspect of the modernization of liberal government in the late 20th century was an increased attention to policy, both as a concept for interrogating government, and as the basis for organizing work within government, leading to the development of ‘policy analysis’ as a decision tool. This paper reviews the development of specialised forms of ‘policy work’ in liberal western political systems in order to establish what can be learned by other sorts of polity, and in particular, the transitional states of Eastern Europe. It discusses the multiple and overlapping accounts of policy that are in use, and the implications that these have for the nature of policy work. It points out that policy work takes place in multiple locations where a diversity of rationales may apply, and discusses the implications of this analysis for the place of policy work in the modernization of government.

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