Politics, power and public policy-making: a response to Karen Baehler

Abstract

Karen Baehler’s interpretation of my articles (Gregory, 1998, 2002, 2004) indicates that we are largely talking past each other. I believe we make a fundamentally different assumption about the nature of politics in what she refers to as ‘a healthy democratic polity’ (p.3), and about the nature of a capitalist political-economic system. Whereas Baehler acknowledges the importance of the political dimensions of policy analysis and public policymaking, I believe that these elements are more than just important but essential, omnipresent, ineluctable and conclusive in shaping public policy and its effects.