Canadian Public Policy Analysis and Public Policy Programs: A Comparative Perspective

This article seeks to place Canadian public policy programs in a comparative context and to provide an overview that identifies the status of the Canadian public policy analysis profession and policy analysis/policy studies instruction in light of domestic and global developments. The authors acknowledge that instruction plays a crucial role in the training as well as in the future approach and orientation of policy analysts and they analyze shifts in the perspective of policy analysis studies and policy analysis instruction. This preliminary comparative paper primarily discusses the characteristics and training needs of policy studies/analysis by tracking the needs of the profession; the development of the field to date; orientations arising from conceptual and historical developments in Canada, the United States, and Europe, and shaping particular public policy programs, curriculum orientations, and practices; and implications of and lessons drawn from the various contexts in comparison to Canada. Throughout the paper the terms policy analysis and policy studies are used interchangeably, because in the various traditions highlighted in this paper, programs of policy studies, rather than policy analysis, are prevalent. Policy analysis skills are promoted, albeit with various degrees of emphasis, within these programs.