ABSTRACT
As the focus shifts towards larger scale policy making, the complexity both of the policy-making organisations, and of their spheres of infl uence, makes the study of policy making more complex, but also fascinating and rewarding. Within political systems, where vested interests operate with varying degrees of infl uence and success, the stated aims of a policy may often mask its real purposes. There is rarely only one point of decision and therefore an easily identifi able ‘policy maker’. Even more rare is a coherent set of policies, structured so that each never contradicts the other. This chapter explores these complexities and introduces some of the models that have been used to analyse them.
