Comparative Policy Studies

Features

Description

The role of comparative analysis in policy studies has gained increasing importance in recent years. Comparative policy studies aims at comparing and contrasting public policy making across sectoral, regional and national boundaries in order to overcome challenges in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of public policy.

This book is the first in its field to provide scholars and policy-makers with both compelling comparative research design and methodology in one place. In contrast to general manuals on comparative methodology, this book specifically addresses key research design and methodological challenges that comparative policy studies typically faces and draws on rich empirical illustrations.

Written by an outstanding cast of contributors, this volume is essential reading for scholars and students of comparative public policy. Review: 'This volume offers an encompassing assessment of major methodological challenges in comparative public policy. The chapters provide highly instructive insights and ideas on how to improve the design and research programs in comparative policy studies.

This way, the book will significantly help to advance the state-of-the art in this field especially with regard to theory-building and theory-testing' Prof. Christoph Knill, University of Munich, Germany This new book merits attention by anyone interested in comparative studies of public policy, in particular students and scholars thinking seriously about how to design a research project or evaluate an existing literature.

The editors have brought together a stellar group of experts in the full range of methodologies associated with cross national studies of public policy, from case studies to large quantitative studies, from gendering public policy to expanding the empirical base of knowledge away from western societies, from QCA to mixed methods.

In sum, this is one-stop shopping for an overview of the state of the art in comparative studies of public policy. Frank R. Baumgartner, Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA