Introduction

Policy analysis is both a rather new and highly successful sub-discipline of German political science. In the most recent reputational study (Falter and Knodt, 2007) among members of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) it ranks second, with 37 per cent of German political scientists naming it as their main area of work (after 58 per cent for comparative politics). The aim of this chapter is to describe and explain this remarkable success, at least in the academic sphere, by defining the major concepts, developments and changes of policy analysis in Germany in the last 50 years. We are interested in the most important topics and paradigms in the German discussion as well as in the relations with the other sub-disciplines of social and political science, with international discussions and last, but not least, with political and administrative practice in Germany. We ask what has been ‘typically German’ in this development and where the main inspirations came from. Our main argument is that developments in Germany have been heavily influenced by the international research agenda, especially from the US, but even more so by practical political and administrative discourses about the proper role and organisation of government and ‘the state’ (Jann, 2009).

Policy: the missing concept

As has been observed many times (Heidenheimer, 1986), the German language does not have a specific term for ‘policy’. Politik signifies politics as well as policy, which makes it difficult to distinguish policy analysis from other forms of political science and analysis. Obviously, the concern with the formulation, implementation and effects of government activities also has a long tradition in Germany (see Chapter 2, this volume). Its historic roots can be traced back to the Policey-Wissenschaft of the 17th and 18th centuries which included legal, economic and financial aspects of public activities and covered all policy fields. However, this comprehensive approach disappeared during the 19th century as a result of the differentiation of the social sciences, and thus also the term ‘policy’. But not only did policy or Policey as a comprehensive term for government activities disappear, but also political science as a distinct academic discipline. ‘Government’ and ‘governing’ were interpreted as the execution of laws and thus the domain of law and constitutional lawyers.