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Comparing Government Activity pp 118–138Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Methodological Individualism and the U-Shaped Curve: Some Theoretical Guidelines for the Comparative Analysis of Public Policy

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Abstract

The purpose of this collection is to stimulate thinking about what it means to observe government activity from a comparative perspective. Government activities are concerned with (public) policy, and, like the other contributors to this volume, I am interested in making sense of these activities. We are engaged in what is thus best identified as comparative public policy (CPP) analysis, a field in the continual process of defining itself. In this paper, I seek to make a contribution to that process. While other contributions focus on the validity of certain common practices, I am more interested in the conceptualisation underlying these practices and its theoretical foundations.

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Authors
  1. Henry Milner
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laval University, Quebec, Canada

    Louis M. Imbeau (Professor of Political Science) (Professor of Political Science)

  2. Lancaster University, UK

    Robert D. McKinlay (Professor of International Studies) (Professor of International Studies)

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© 1996 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Milner, H. (1996). Methodological Individualism and the U-Shaped Curve: Some Theoretical Guidelines for the Comparative Analysis of Public Policy. In: Imbeau, L.M., McKinlay, R.D. (eds) Comparing Government Activity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24533-8_8

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