Why Compare Public Policies?

The comparative approach to investigating policy processes, outputs and outcomes, is an important, if under-used, tool for researchers and policymakers. It can, of course, help us understand policy-making and its consequences in foreign nations, but can also illuminate policy processes in our own country. It provides ‘free lessons’ on how to make policy differently, and awakens us to the contingency of ‘how things are done’ in our own country. Comparing policy in different nations can also provide us with a deeper and richer understanding of the fundamental drivers of policy-making and how it impacts on the world.