ABSTRACT
From this perspective, policy analysts and planning theorists have questioned the instrumental or technocratic conception of public policy analysis (Van Gunsteren 1976; Torgerson 1985; Forester 1989; Majone 1989; Fischer 1990b). Rejecting the role of the policy analyst as an
adjudicator of the best means to a given end, these authors have begun asking questions such as the following: What can analysis contribute to political judgment through the process of public and democratic deliberation? Rather than stifling it, can planning actually improve the quality of public discourse? Can policy analysts as public officials enhance public deliberation as well as learning about the public interest?
