<p>A series of short podcasts based on the new book - The Politics of Policy Analysis - and web page <a href="https://paulcairney.wordpress.com/policy-analysis-in-750-words/">750 | Paul Cairney: Politics & Public Policy (wordpress.com)</a></p>
<p>This book generates state-of-the-art advice on how to do policy analysis. It combines a review of policy analysis texts, new developments in psychology and policymaking, and more critical studies of the politics of evidence use. It helps readers reflect on the practices appropriate to a new policy analysis profession. Most ‘art and craft’ advice on policy analysis already states that it is a political act, not simply a technical and ‘evidence based’ process. This book goes two steps further. First, it highlights the politics of evidence production and ethical ways to combine many forms of policy-relevant knowledge. Second, it describes the supply of analysis to policymakers who must ignore almost all information, and operate in a policymaking environment over which they have limited knowledge and minimal control. It shows that policy analysis will be of limited value unless analysts incorporate these factors into their advice.</p>
<p><strong>Paul Cairney </strong>is Professor of Politics and Public Policy, University of Stirling, UK.</p>