Unlocking a compelling account of race policies in Britain and France requires investigation of policy development over time. To enrich the historical narrative and to uncover the root causes of race policy outcomes, it is essential to analyze the history in light of theories of comparative public policymaking. This chapter therefore begins by outlining three prominent policymaking perspectives. A policymaking perspective refers to a school of thought that accounts for the basic nature and central elements of policymaking, be they specific actors, a theory of motivation, or a conceptualization of constraints on action. The power-interest framework, for example, views politics as a function of actors struggling to advance their interests, with outcomes determined largely by relative power resources. Problem-solving perspectives interpret politics as a search for policy solutions to concrete problems. Institutional approaches typically stress the constraining nature of existing webs of institutions on any new policy under consideration. Each of these perspectives offers useful insights into policymaking and each must be canvassed in order to understand the contours of race policymaking in Britain and France.

Close examination of these perspectives reveals that as informative as each is, none can satisfactorily account for race policy outcomes in these cases. These theoretical frameworks do not successfully illuminate actors' goals or their desired policies.