Sharpening up Sabatier: Belief Systems and Public Policy

What causes public policies to come into being and to change has been a matter of primary concern to political scientists for a very long time. This article examines very briefly a few approaches to this problem, and then focusses on one model in particular: that proposed by Paul Sabatier which looks at the relationship between beliefs and policy making. We then examine some of the problems associated with Sabatier's approach, and suggest some possible revisions which enable the model to be used more effectively.