ABSTRACT
One infl uential thesis for analyzing the policy process has been formulated by Theodore Lowi.1 He has argued, “Policies determine politics” (Lowi 1972, 299). In this chapter, the context will fi rst be outlined against which Lowi developed his thesis (section 1). The chapter will then address the infl uence of this thesis on the academic debate as well as on the doubts raised about its explanatory potential for analyzing individual policy sectors like labor market policy, public old age pension policy, environment policy, or migration policy. The main focus of this chapter will be on how to make use of Lowi’s thesis in respect of individual policy fi elds. However, such an attempt is limited because policies cannot effectively be considered separately from their related historical and locational structures and actor constellations related to them. What this implies and how to cope conceptually with this problem will be addressed in the chapter’s fi nal sections.
