Computer assisted policy analysis: contributions from Germany

Apart from well-known highly popularized System Dynamics work/there has been
little published in the field of computer-assisted policy analysis. The System
Dynamics computer models, which derive from Forrester's early work on the
dynamics of industrial systems, 2 have mostly been concerned not so much with
policy in a directly related sense as with futurology. Their emphasis has been on tell-
ing policy-makers what is going to happen and what should be done rather than pro-
viding the policy-maker, as a client, with a vehicle for policy exploration. Similarly,
the more respectable modelling by units such as the Science Policy Research Unit in
the U.K., 3 have been mostly concerned with prescription and normative analysis.
For these reasons alone the publication this year of a three volume collection of
papers gathered together under the title Concepts and Tools of Computer Assisted
Policy Analysis 4 is an event of some significance. This publication is significant
mainly because it sees the decision-maker as central to the policy analysis activity.
Additionally, the sub-titles of each of the three volumes indicate that the editor,
Harmut Bossel, has made a clear attempt to relate the current and potential use of
sophisticated computer technology to the context of the reality of governmental
decision-making. Because of the possible significance and influence of the varied
content of each of the volumes, an extended review will be presented, which will at-
tempt to provide an overview of