PPOL: Public Policy

The focus of this guide is public policy in general, ie., the policies made by public bodies (governments or intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)).  Emphasis is on Canadian federal public policy.  Some information on the policy-making process will be provided. 

This general guide will take the interdisciplinary area of public policy and divided it into two major components:

PUBLIC POLICY DOCUMENTS

• Sources that contain public policy documents.  Most of the time these are governmental or intergovernmental resources.

PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS, COMMENTARY, DESCRIPTION, DISCUSSION, INTERPRETATION, ETC.

• These are sources that analyze, comment on, describe, discuss, or interpret policies.  Many of these are written and published by associations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), policy centres and institutes and think tanks.  Literature produced by these organizations if often known as grey literature.