Understanding Dialectics in Policy Network Analysis

In: Political studies, Band 49, Heft 3, S. 542-550

Abstract

The author assesses the theoretical & methodological utility of concepts of policy network analysis. He focuses on David Marsh & Martin J. Smith's (2001) dialectical approach to policy study, which aspires to resolve the limitations of overly abstract megalevel theories as well as those of microlevel theories that tend to overly localize policy study. However, Marsh & Smith's approach has its own limitations in that, primarily, it is insufficiently dialectical. The author endorses the dynamic, pluralistic, & nontotalizing potential of the dialectical model & urges its further theoretic refinement. 2 Figures, 16 References. K. Coddon