David Leheny's points are well taken. Even in the U.S. literature, the move from "iron triangle" or "subgovernment" to "policy community" and then "issue network" signified (1) less emphasis on power and more on ideas, and (2) less emphasis on defending the status quo and more on the role of such groupings in policy change.

And I could add, based on the work of my colleagues Jack Walker and John Kingdon, that the later formulations have a lot more social construction as well. Walker in particular saw the process of change in policy communities as akin to Kuhn's paradigm shifts in academic disciplines.

Speaking of social construction of problems and solutions, I wonder if many forum members are familiar with Richard Boyd's wonderful little piece on IP in Japanese shipbuilding, in the first volume (if I recall) of _Japan Forum_ five or six years ago (or more?).