The Impacts of Civil Society on Policy Analysis By Ozeh, Cornelius Introduction: Analysis of policy options is imperative to making informed policy decisions. It involves relevant stakeholders and actors which participate in the process of clarifying a messy policy challenge, analyzing relevant information – including information on the specific context of the problem, clarifying, playing out the implications of and weighing options for action, making recommendations, and, in some cases, developing a strategic plan for implementation. These stakeholders and actors have their respective three-tiered belief systems: “deep core, policy core and secondary aspects,” (Sabatier 1988). These three tiers of belief suggest how the policy analysis actors and stakeholders impact on policy analysis itself, so that “policy designs are interpreted as translations of (policy actors’) beliefs (ibid.).” The civil society as a towering actor of policy analysis has gre...
