ABSTRACT

This chapter presents the theoretical approaches by identifying their key concepts, their strengths and weaknesses for understanding the policy process and advancing knowledge. It also identifies the similarities and differences in what these theories explain and what shared knowledge can be gleaned across them. The major theories and frameworks have generally been produced independently of each other and were not designed with these comparisons in mind. Some are used to produce a parsimonious understanding of a large number of cases; others tend to emphasize in-depth understanding of single cases. The chapter includes three criteria to compare theoretical approaches. The first criterion is the extent to which the basic elements of a theory are covered. The second criterion is the development of an active research program. Developing indicators of the third criterion is the most challenging because people know that the policy process is complex and there is no "general theory".