Inclusion-exclusion in public policies and policy analyses: the case of Philippine land reform, 1972-2002

Most policy analyses, especially those on land reform, focus on issues and data that are within the official policy scope. This ʹpolicy scope-centeredʹ approach has led to only partial understanding of policy choices, implementation and outcomes. A more complete, and so more powerful, analysis requires the inclusion of issues and data that are excluded from the policy scope. This paper is a preliminary inquiry into the inclusion-exclusion question in the official scope of Philippine land reform policy. It is an initial attempt to raise new questions for further research, and suggests a different strategy for approaching land reform data.