Learning From Comparative Public Policy

Step 7

Should a lesson be adopted?

This paper frightens me to death. We should recognise that the German talking shop works because it consists of Germans.

Margaret Thatcher, unpublished comment on a memoabout a German corporatist economic programme

Politicians are more concerned with political values than with the technical details of programmes. Therefore, the critical question about a proposed programme is: should it be adopted? Whereas drawing a lesson is about getting to grips with technicalities of programmes in two different countries, the adoption of a lesson is an exercise in political judgement. In a democracy, elected officials have the legitimate right to decide which values should be applied to evaluate a programme. In order to ...