Deliberative Policy Analysis: Understanding Governance in the Network Society

Large-scale social and political changes have revolutionized policy-making. Traditionally, policy analysis has been state-centered, based on the assumption that central government is self-evidently the locus of government. However, policy-making is often carried out today in loosely organized networks of public authorities, citizen associations and private enterprises. The contributors to this book argue that democratic governance now calls for a new deliberatively-oriented policy analysis. They provide examples from around the world to demonstrate how this would work in practice.

Maarten A. Hajer is Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam.

Hendrik Wagenaar is Associate Professor of Public Policy, Leiden University and Senior Researcher, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement.