Policy Analysis In Spain: Actors And Institutions

This chapter explains the main features of policy analysis in Spain. Considering the contributions of this edited volume, it describes how policy actors generate and share technical and political information to address social, economic, and political issues across different institutional frameworks, policy areas, and time. It argues that in recent decades a gradual transformation of policy analysis in Spain from a closed model to a more pluralist and specialized model occurred. Policy analysis in Spain has increased in terms of the number of actors involved, the issues under discussion, and the type of information for the policy process produced. In contrast to previous decades, governmental actors –mainly top public servants— joint with a small community of policy experts who traditionally participated in knowledge production lose their monopolistic position in favour of other actors. The proliferation of the number and type of actors involved in policy analysis has expanded policy analysis to multiple areas of the interest of researchers and experts, and it has also altered the policymaking process, moving towards a more complex and fragmented political scenario. It also evidences an evolution towards a new culture of reporting based on empirical sources, examining facts, applying technical knowledge, and confronting views and values to inspire public policies, overcoming the production of policy analysis just from a legalist approach.