Introduction

With the EU Commission’s “Corona risk maps” analytical tools gained unusual publicity in 2020. Brussels’ effort to harmonize member states’ governance of the COVID-19 pandemic via shared analysis is just a recent addition to a wider turn to analysis across public administrations. This Introduction stages this development within a widely scattered interdisciplinary research landscape which has yet to settle the question why analysis appeals to public administrations, and how diverse institutional contexts shape this appeal. Next to charting respective controversies in research, the chapter details the book’s aims and contributions, methodological approach and research design, and structure of argument.