Policy Sciences of Democracy

Abstract

Years ago, Harold Lasswell promised a policy science of democracy, but to date, the author of this article contends, most efforts at policy analysis have proven subtly antidemocratic and of dubious rationality. The problem, he argues, is that the sporadic attempts to tailor policy analysis to liberal democracy tend to reinforce liberal politics at the expense of effective problem solving. A policy science of strong participatory democracy, he concludes, is conceptually better able to combine democratic politics and rational policy making. Illustrations from public policy in and about Alaska show how this can be achieved in practice.