Introduction

In current debates about the transformations of the public sphere, public policy has come to take a pivotal role. Public policy is at the heart of the challenges which post-industrial societies now face: of how to make politics, as politics becomes increasingly identified with the craft of making policy and how to combine the conflicting requirements of efficiency and democratic legitimacy? On the one hand, the growing complexity of the problems to be addressed requires greater expertise. On the other, there is pressure from more and more individuals or groups to be involved in the process of decision-making.