ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the use of critical and interpretive policy and discourse analysis as an approach to explore dementia policies including its political and institutional practices, that is, the process where policies are enacted by the actors, including citizens living with dementia. The definition and construction of dementia and the category of citizens living with dementia are seldom explicit, but often embedded in policies. Policies are not mirrors of reality; rather they create meaning and give a specific question a particular value. The policy process relates to the construction of political problems where the construction of policy areas, targeted groups, goals and appropriate solutions do not come into being until they are recognised as political problems. The chapter emphasises certain aspects that need to be addressed when critically analysing policies. It introduces theoretical and methodological aspects of policy analysis and provides examples. The first example will be drawn from a textual analysis.
