ABSTRACT
Pragmatism provides an interesting and potentially powerful philosophical backdrop for an integrated theory of policy analysis that links public policy to democracy. Pragmatic policy analysis does not need to invent new methods or theories, but instead needs to incorporate as central components some research traditions that have previously been marginalized by the field. A problem-oriented approach to policy analysis begins with an understanding of how the issues have been framed and the contextual conditions that shape the social construction of the issue itself. Science is a process of observing, testing, and searching for meaning that contributes to an ever-changing body of knowledge and tentative theorizing. In contemporary American society, public policy is expected to play at least four critical roles: problem solving, responsiveness, providing arenas for citizen discourse, and advancing justice. Public policy is expected to be an effective and efficient problem solver through its causal impacts on behavior and on technical relationships.
