Critical realism and public policy

This study aims to examine the limits of the positivist approach, which has dominated the discipline of public policy for many years, and the contributions of post-positivist paradigms, especially critical realism, to this field. The weight of rational, technical and quantitative-oriented models in public policy analysis has confined decision-making processes to a reductionist framework; This situation has been insufficient to reflect the complexity of social reality. Critical realism brings together both ontological realism and epistemological critique, proposing a holistic approach that considers the interplay of structure, agent, and context in the process of knowledge production. In the first chapter of the thesis, the limitations of positivist paradigm and empiricist policy analysis are discussed; criticisms of positivism and the rise of the post-positivist approach are conveyed. In the second chapter of the thesis, it is evaluated how critical realism offers an ontological and epistemological framework in public policy analysis. In this context, the ontological and epistemological dimensions of critical realism are detailed; emphasis of critical realism on the structure-agent relationship and the multi-layered nature of reality is explained. In this chapter, normative orientation and interdisciplinary methodology, which are critical for public policy discipline, are also discussed. In the final chapter, the innovative contributions of critical realism to public policy analysis are exemplified and an in-depth evaluation of policy processes in the context of the interaction of invisible mechanisms, structural conditions, and actors is proposed.