Policy Analysis through the Lens of the Comparative Method

How comparative is policy analysis ? The paper investigates how the comparative method has shaped policy studies. The paper shows that comparing has been a key feature of policy analysis since the outset of this discipline of political science, even if, the paper acknowledges, methodological discussions have been marginal. Despite this underdevelopment of method-related debates, be they inspired by comparative politics or specific to policy analysis, scholars’ practices of comparison since the 1970s display changes. Comparative research designs have evolved along with multilevel policy making and with a further elaboration of the understanding of public action. Overall, the comparative method has served a better analysis of public policy.