Public Policy Analysis and Management at the Crossroads: An Epistemological Investigation of Ethics and Public Action

In recent decades, our societies have undergone major social, cultural, economic, and political transformations. These changes have had a considerable impact on the process of developing public policy. This process has grown much more complex, the number of actors involved has multiplied, and the state’s role has been profoundly transformed (Lascoumes and Le Galès 2007; Boisvert and Brodeur 2010). To better understand this phenomenon, many researchers have set aside traditional approaches to policy analysis in favor of those that let them highlight the complexity of public action1 and the importance of the interactions among the actors

Introduction ....................................................................................................173 Public Administration at the Crossroads ....................................................174