Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis aims to provide a decisive push to the further development and application of innovative and specific comparative methods for the improvement of policy analysis. To take on this challenge, this volume brings together methodologists and specialists from a broad range of social scientific disciplines and policy fields.

The work further develops methods for systematic comparative cases analysis in a small-N research design, with a key emphasis laid on policy-oriented applications. Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis is clearly both a social scientific and policy-driven endeavor; on the one hand, the book engages in an effort to further improve social scientific methods, but on the other hand this effort also intends to provide useful, applied tools for policy analysts and the "policy community" alike. Though quite a variety of methods and techniques are touched upon in this volume, its focus is mainly laid on two recently developed research methods/techniques which enable researchers to systematically compare a limited number of cases; Qualitative Comparative Analysis(QCA) and Fuzzy-Sets (FS).

This unique book presents the first systematic overview of policy analysis activities in Belgium. Contributors from both sides of the Dutch-French language border (from research institutes in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia) use original empirical data, through surveys and interviews with key players both within and outside government, to provide a comprehensive study of policy analysis in a multi-level polity. By the very nature of the Belgian experience, the volume is comparative, drawing conclusions on divergence and convergence of policy analysis, making it an important resource for both national and international scholars.

Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis aims to provide a decisive push to the further development and application of innovative and specific comparative methods for the improvement of policy analysis. To take on this challenge, this volume brings together methodologists and specialists from a broad range of social scientific disciplines and policy fields.

The work further develops methods for systematic comparative cases analysis in a small-N research design, with a key emphasis laid on policy-oriented applications. Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis is clearly both a social scientific and policy-driven endeavor; on the one hand, the book engages in an effort to further improve social scientific methods, but on the other hand this effort also intends to provide useful, applied tools for policy analysts and the "policy community" alike. Though quite a variety of methods and techniques are touched upon in this volume, its focus is mainly laid on two recently developed research methods/techniques which enable researchers to systematically compare a limited number of cases; Qualitative Comparative Analysis(QCA) and Fuzzy-Sets (FS).