Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Notes on contributors
- Editors’ introduction to the series
- One Policy analysis in Canada: an introduction
- Part I The profession of policy analysis in Canada
- Part II Policy analysis at different levels of Canadian governments
- Part III Policy analysis in the executive and legislative branches of Canadian government
- Part IV Policy analysis outside government: parties, interest groups and the media
- Part V Pedagogy and policy analysis in the Canadian university system
- Part VI Conclusion
- Index
Two - The policy analysis profession in Canada
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 April 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Notes on contributors
- Editors’ introduction to the series
- One Policy analysis in Canada: an introduction
- Part I The profession of policy analysis in Canada
- Part II Policy analysis at different levels of Canadian governments
- Part III Policy analysis in the executive and legislative branches of Canadian government
- Part IV Policy analysis outside government: parties, interest groups and the media
- Part V Pedagogy and policy analysis in the Canadian university system
- Part VI Conclusion
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Almost 40 years ago Peter deLeon, editor of the journal Policy Sciences, made the following observation:
Throughout the government and private sectors, one hardly finds any office that does not have a staff ‘policy analyst’. Newly graduated baccalaureates engrave that title on their business cards and many senior government officials view themselves primarily as analysts…Clearly, policy analysis can be seen as a growth stock. Yet the pervasiveness of the genre leads one to question the heritage, present condition, and future of the discipline and the profession. (deLeon, 1981, p. 1)
Most of what deLeon wrote in his 1981 editorial remains true today. Although the number of people whose business cards proclaim them to be policy analysts is very difficult to determine, it is conceivable that in both Canada and the United States their numbers approach those for physicians or lawyers. The number of policy analysts has surely grown quite significantly since deLeon described policy analysis as a “growth stock”. However, the strong hint of scepticism that creeps into his conclusion is not entirely fair. I argue that the policy analysis profession is at least as influential as deLeon and other leaders of what was known as the policy sciences movement hoped it would become, but in ways that they did not expect and that probably would have disappointed them.
Even the approximate size of the policy analysis community in Canada is unknown (Howlett, 2009). In this respect, it is quite different from the medical and legal professions which have about 80,000 (CMA, 2017) and 95,000 (FLSC, 2014) members, respectively. Unlike these professions and such others as accountants, engineers, teachers, and nurses, there is no required certification before one can be recognized by others as a policy analyst. This, of course, has to do with the fact that the policy analysis profession is not linked to any particular discipline. Someone whose business card proclaims him or her to be a policy analyst may have training in economics, criminology, public health, women's studies, international security studies or any number of disciplinary backgrounds, some of which are by their very nature multidisciplinary.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Policy Analysis in Canada , pp. 27 - 48Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2018