This is yet another how-to-do-it book on policy analysis. Experienced readers will know that there are already hundreds of books on this subject. This book is different, however, because of its focus on the fundamental importance of metaphorical thinking in analyzing policy. Like policy analysis, metaphor is also a popular subject for academic writers. However, there are relatively few references to, and virtually no full-length works on, the interrelationship between metaphor and policy analysis. This is despite the fact that, like everyone else, policy analysts and their clients explain in metaphor, argue in metaphor, and even dream in metaphor.

As any seasoned policy analyst knows, policy analysis is seldom simply telling people what to do. It is more often a matter of helping people to see things differently and to feel differently about them; the same skills that visionary leaders must possess. Vision is the single most desired, yet elusive, quality of leadership. Some leaders have great ideas but cannot articulate them effectively; some leaders are powerful orators but have nothing of importance to say. Visionary leaders must simultaneously paint crystalline word images and sculpt concrete programs and policies from raw ideas. From ancient philosophers to modern politicians, the power of metaphor in the creation, articulation, and realization of visions is undisputed.

At its heart, this book is about power--the power of ideas and the language used to express those ideas. Ideas and language are the currency of an information society. In the Information Age, knowledge flows quickly and widely and leadership of informed constituents must proceed by persuasion rather than by decree. While it is now impossible to control information, those who control language control the "shape" or "color" of information and thereby control the policy arena. Leaders who can generate sound, creative ideas and articulate them in a persuasive manner increase their chances for success. Today's leaders must lead with their minds as well as their deeds. In fact, what often separates successful leaders from failed ones is the ability to think and communicate imaginatively, yet systematically. This book offers one method for doing just that--the method of metaphorical policy analysis.

Policy analysts, policy-makers, and policy administrators are the intended targets of this book. The power of language may seem an esoteric topic for those who need immediate help on the policy crisis of the day, but it is the thesis of this book that careful, creative thinking is the best remedy for both short and long term policy problems. Visionary leaders know that the ability to identify and communicate creative policies increases their chances of survival in the real world of daily crises.

In a democracy every person is a potential leader, and ordinary citizens regularly assume or are thrust into positions of leadership. Often in such situations we are convinced that we know the correct way to proceed and the appropriate policies to pursue--if we could just get people to listen. "If only I could speak like John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr.," we secretly lament, "what I could accomplish then!" Dynamic leaders instinctively know that metaphors are one of the most potent communication devices. Mastering metaphor will give you the rhetorical edge to rally superiors, colleagues, and subordinates behind your policy decisions.

In a general sense, a policy is a course of action and policy analysis is an attempt to identify the best course of action. In this broad sense, policy analysis is as old as civilization itself and has included techniques as diverse as astrological charts and computer modeling. Because the aim of policy analysis is to provide policy makers with useful information, it is not restricted to any one discipline. Policy analysts have used quantitative and qualitative techniques from sociology, philosophy, economics, mathematics, history, political science, anthropology, law, journalism, psychology, geography, and other areas. Most policy analysis has focused on measuring the effects of existing policies or attempting to determine what policies will achieve specified goals. There can be no doubt that these kinds of analyses are extremely important and that policy decisions can be improved by the information generated.

This book, however, is in a different tradition of policy analysis--one that has it roots in ancient Greek philosophy and which has been referred to as rhetorical. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion; the use of language and argument to convince others of the appropriateness of a course of action. Citizens of ancient Greece frequently engaged each other in public debate and made sacrifices to Peitho, the goddess of persuasion, in order to ensure that their arguments would prevail. Today, however, the art of rhetoric is often equated with propaganda or brainwashing. Rhetoric can indeed be used for those ends, but it can also be used as a method of public education through public debate. It is this latter sense of rhetoric that was a cornerstone of ancient Greek democracy and is essential to modern democratic policy making. In fact, the explosion of information and communication made possible by the Internet harkens back to the direct, highly participative democracy of ancient Greece and portends a re-emphasis on the importance of rhetoric in the twenty-first century.

The job of a rhetorical policy analyst is to produce persuasive arguments; the arguments can be technical or commonplace, sophisticated or naive, but they must be persuasive. This book describes one method of rhetorical policy analysis--metaphorical policy analysis. It is a method as old as civilization and as common as persuasion. In one sense this book contains nothing new; it is simply a set of techniques to systematize a decision-making process that we all use every day.