El Referencial de Política Pública

This book represents a collaborative effort by its editors and authors to present to the Spanish-speaking public a series of texts that highlight the explanatory value of constructivist approaches to public policy analysis, especially the referential approach proposed by the work of one of the aspects of the French school, represented by Pierre Muller. In this way, in a context of predominance of positivist analytical tools, both in the study and in the practice of public policies in the country, the authors of the book share the conviction about the need to recognize and highlight the function they fulfill. the ideas and interpretative schemes of public policy actors in the configuration and, why not, transformation of public affairs. Consequently, they present five chapters that, from the analysis of different public problems and from the use of various research schemes, contribute to a common purpose: "to offer references on the use that the referential approach can have in the analysis of public policies ".

The book has several distinctive features. On the one hand, it offers a theoretical chapter that presents the content of the reference approach that can be useful, both for the public dedicated to research and for decision makers. In turn, the four empirical chapters of case studies, the product of academic research that their authors carried out to obtain the master's degree in government and public policies from the Faculty of Finance, Government and International Relations of the Externado University of Colombia, They provide readers with robust examples of the usability of the referential approach to address the analysis of the most diverse social problems.