Journal article
The Rhetorics of Policy Analysis
Policy sciences, Vol.24(2), pp.153-179
05/01/1991
DOI: 10.1007/BF00138058
Abstract
This paper claims that policy analysis is inherently rhetorical, that is cannot be fully understood apart from the audiences to which it is directed and the styles in which it is communicated. Defining rhetoric as persuasive discourse within and between interpretive communities, the author argues that policy analysts are embedded in a complex rhetorical situation created by the interaction of three primary audiences (scientists, politicians, and lay advocates), each of which has its own normal discourse and agreed-upon conventions of persuasion, and that failure to persuade any one of these audiences will cause analysts to appear incompetent, impractical, or illegitimate. To support and illustrate this claim the author reconstructs the theoretical literature about policy analysis in rhetorical terms, then reviews events that occurred at Love Canal, New York, in the late 1970s. The author concludes by suggesting that policy analysts need to "actively mediate" the policy discourse between scientists, politicians, and advocates.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Rhetorics of Policy Analysis
- Creators
- J Throgmorton - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Policy sciences, Vol.24(2), pp.153-179
- DOI
- 10.1007/BF00138058
- ISSN
- 0032-2687
- eISSN
- 1573-0891
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/01/1991
- Academic Unit
- Planning and Public Affairs
- Record Identifier
- 9984270200402771
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