Public Policy: Saying One Thing While Doing Another

Abstract

This article discusses the nature of the political, rather than technical, rationality that lies at the heart of most public policymaking. There is a strong tendency in liberal democracies to fudge the realities of political power and disguise them behind technocratic approaches to policymaking which appear to be politically neutral. The study and teaching of public policymaking is enlivened and made more relevant by a full and open recognition of its political dimensions.