Regional Comparisons in Comparative Policy Analysis Studies

Volume Three of the Classics of Comparative Policy Analysis, contains chapters concerned with "Regional Comparisons and Policy Analysis" – one of the most prevailing approaches in comparative public policy. Through the prism of inter-jurisdiction comparisons of similarities and variations, they address comparisons in specific policy sectors, governance or institutional constructs, and political regimes. The foci are, nevertheless, on those comparisons between countries or regions, which help to lesson-draw by identifying and understanding the variation in policy analysis and policy making that exists within or across regions. One benefit of regional comparisons is that it often allows studies to hold constant many variables, ranging from colonial legacy to federal systems, or from language to specific traditions, and more effectively isolate dependent variables. Regional organizations like the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) or European Union are also considered as catalysts for regional policy approaches and harmonization, and occupy a major role in this volume. The chapters address a broad and diverse number of countries and geographical areas: Latin America, North America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, the Baltic states, the Nordic states, Western Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Europe as a whole.

"Regional Comparisons and Policy Analysis" will be of great interest to scholars and learners of public policy and social sciences, as well as to practitioners considering what can be learned or facilitated through methodologically and theoretically sound approaches.

The chapters were originally published as articles in the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis which in the last two decades has pioneered the development of comparative public policy. The volume is part of a four-volume series, the Classics of Comparative Policy Analysis including Theories and Methods, Institutions and Governance, Regional Comparisons, and Policy Sectors. Each volume showcases a different new chapter comparing domains of study interrelated with comparative public policy: political science, public administration, governance and policy design, authored by the JCPA co-editors Giliberto Capano, Iris Geva-May, Michael Howlett, Leslie A. Pal and B. Guy Peters.

Iris Geva-May has been recognized by Thomson Reuters for having pioneered the field of comparative policy analysis since 1998, when she founded the now high indexed Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. She serves as its Founding Editor. She is President of the International Comparative Policy Analysis Forum Scholarly Society. She has published among others The Logic and Methodology of Policy Analysis, An Operational Approach to Policy Analysis (with Wildavsky), International Library of Policy Analysis, Routledge Handbook of Comparative Policy Analysis, and Policy Analysis as a Clinical Profession. She is currently a Honorary Visiting Professor at SPPA, Carleton University, Ottawa, and the Wagner School NYU; and Professor Emerita, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver.

B. Guy Peters is Maurice Falk Professor of Government at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, and Honorary Editor of the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. He is also the Founding President of the International Public Policy Association and Editor of the International Review of Public Policy. He has been honored as the recipient of the Fred Riggs Award for Lifetime Achievement in Public Administration, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from NISPAcee. Among his seminal publications are: Comparative Politics Theory and Methods, Institutional Theory In Political Science0, The Politics of Bureaucracy: A Comparative Perspective, and An Advanced Introduction to Public Policy, The Next Public Administration.

Joselyn Muhleisen serves as the Awards Coordinator for the International Comparative Policy Analysis Forum and the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. She is a Doctoral Lecturer at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Baruch College, City University of New York (CUNY). She earned her doctorate in political science from The Graduate Center, CUNY. She is the former Assistant Director of the European Union Studies Center, CUNY, New Yorkp. She has published work about the development of comparative policy analysis and its relationship to international studies.