Search

Approaches in comparative policy analysis have so far focused on the understanding of actors, institutions and their positions in the policy-making process. More recent work attempts to enrich comparative policy analysis by taking the social context and culture into account, in order to do justice to the relevance of policy context for policy content. However, the object or content of policy making has so far largely remained a black box. In this article we aim to open up this black box by studying the provision of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in the Netherlands, Germany and Britain in terms of co-evolution. Co-evolution refers to the intricate development of a policy together with its content, in this case genetic technologies such as PGD. We demonstrate how co-evolution has led to specific technological arrangements in these three countries: a specific technical version of PGD to deal with restrictive legislation in Germany, to a well-funded PGD with insecure indications in the Netherlands and to a PGD with secure indications but uncertain funding in Britain. We argue that this approach can contribute to policy learning, about the role of policy content as well as the role of policy processes in shaping public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]