Evolution of the Study of Forest Policy in the United States

The development of political science and forest policy in the United States is traced and compared. Political science began initially as comparative historical analysis and has progressively emphasized more social science methods and objective analytical approaches. Modern critics question the possibility of purely objective and neutral analysis of politics, but trends toward more vigorous standards and theoretical constructs remain. Forest policy research generally follows the comparative historical approach and modern political science methods have been applied only recently. Future applications of political science theory and methods will ironically be limited by political factors and scarce budgets.