Abstract
This paper compares three approaches to improving policymaking: systems analysis, disjointed incrementalism, and the clinical approach (elsewhere referred to as the planned change or human relations approach or organization development). It pays particular attention to the way in which these three approaches view organizations and the role of the expert in reform-mongering.
It is suggested that systems analysis and incrementalism are quite compatible and that, in fact, systems analysis has, in large measure, accepted the incrementalists' view of the policymaking process. But this acceptance has served not so much to strengthen policy analysis as to increase awareness of its weaknesses.
The clinical approach, on the other hand, holds out the promise of strengthening policy analysis, since it focuses on changing organizations, an area in which both systems analysis and incrementalism are weak and, as action-oriented approaches, hampered by their weaknesses. The potential contributions of the clinical approach are considered as well as the likelihood of an eventual synthesis.
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The first version of this paper was prepared for presentation to the Systems Analysis Group, Canadian Treasury Board.
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Archibald, K.A. Three views of the expert's role in policymaking: Systems analysis, incrementalism, and the clinical approach. Policy Sci 1, 73–86 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00145193
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00145193