Power, Knowledge, and Politics: Policy Analysis in the
States. By John A. Hird. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press,
2005. 256p. $49.95 cloth, $26.95 paper.
This is a book that needed to be written. It is the first systematic
study of U. S. nonpartisan state-legislative policy research
organizations. John Hird describes these policy institutions that inform
policymakers in the 50 states, probes the uses of policy research in
political decisions, and examines their relationship to the political
culture of which they are a part. The inquiry makes a significant
contribution to what is already known about state-level policy analysis
and decision making. It fills a gap in the literature for those
considering the relationship between the information needs of legislators
and the policy research provided to them. The focus is on knowledge
utilization at the institutional level in general, rather than with
specific reports on issues.