Expert commissions, master plans and model programmes. The German psychiatry reform as a prime example of 'scientized' politics?

Psychiatry policy is a special policy area with its own institutional arrangements and its own framework of action. Psychiatrists as the leading medical professionals hold the key position in the policy network of psychiatry policy. For the psychiatric experts the »scientization« of politics was not only a reform strategy but also a type of boundary work whereby the experts' sphere of action could be politically secured and consolidated. By applying the »policy-cycle model« in its different stages this article analyses the history of the psychiatry reform in the Federal Republic which spanned several decades. Science played an important role as a political actors in nearly all stages of this cycle - from the problem identification to the agenda setting to the policy formulation and finally to the evaluation. It should be noted that the psychiatrists in their function as policy advisers represented science. Nevertheless, they were, at the same time, also stakeholders. Their knowledge was, therefore, interested knowledge. Thus the limits of the process of »scientization« of psychiatry policy are examined in conclusion.