In modern democratic governments, public policies are a way of solving society's “fundamental problems” (Lasswell, 1971), and to achieve this, policy analysis is a prerequisite. Public policies are a feature that involves interdisciplinary openness, the use of methods for the analysis of key information, risk assessment, the systematic definition of alternatives, and the ability to predict a variety of scenarios with a focus on solutions (Weimer and Vining, 2010). The logic of a government that acts and decides according to a series of mysterious criteria (arcana imperii), a reason of state only understood by and revealed to a few top leaders, has no place in a pluralistic democracy—except in extremely restricted areas such as national security (Rodríguez, 2009). Nowadays, there is even talk of a reliance on evidence-based public policies, which involves, at least partly, groups and actors seeking to influence public policy through various political strategies such as debate, deliberation and discussion of societal problems and solutions.

This wave of governing by public policy has had an impact on the world stage, and Mexico has been no exception to the changes it has brought (Cabrero, 2000). The transition to democracy in Mexico opened up the political arena to many actors with diverse interests. Although government bureaucracies are still accustomed to understanding governance as clientelism and patrimonialism—characteristic of the authoritarian regime that dominated the country for so many years—it is striking that, at least at the federal level, governments and their bureaucracies have been swiftly transformed into spheres for the sophisticated management of organizations and policies. All this has taken place within a framework of pluralism and political conflict, in a context where laws such as those on transparency and access to information, or the fight against corruption, are building a far more complex, open and even chaotic political arena. In this context, management skills and the political and administrative handling of bureaucracies are essential. Without bureaucracies with sophisticated management and solid policy analysis, a government is unlikely to be able to stand its ground within a political dynamic of this nature.

In this respect, the purpose of this chapter is precisely to understand and study the emerging bureaucratic skills being developed at the federal level to undertake policy analysis in Mexico.