Public policy analysis, although new, is a fast developing field of rescarch and has already provided many approaches and interesting findings to social analysts. Many promising lines of inquiring have been opened along the still short road of public policy analysis. Thus, the basic authors' purpose is to articulate some of the concepts leading to a relatively well integrated theoretical framework of public policy questions. Based on a brief review of the literature already produced in the field, where one may find a tendency to consider public policies primarily as dependent variables. the authors developed two basic concepts - policy stability and elite circulation, intro ducing concepts they consider the most important for the theoretical framework they try to articulate - the structure of scarcity, the social division of labor and the social complexification. For purposes of argument, the authors label the two basic orientation in relation to the selected set of determining factors as internalist approach - represented by decision-making process within the governmental structure - and the internalisit approach - i .e., the ecological approach that assumes the influence of available environrnental resources upon the level of public expenditures. These orientations, however, do not include the possibility of feedbaek relationship, that is, public policies are also independent rariables, since they affeet their environment and even governmental structure. How should, however, one proceed in order to approach a general map for public policy analysis in which policies are also seen as independent variables? When and why do policies change? Which factors, outside the governmental bounderies, are able to determine the form and content of public policies? Where are these factors located in the environrnent? How do they affect public policies? After examining both the different concepts and approaches the authors integrated them in order to discuss the notion of induced and natural processes of social change; to stablish important relationships among all variables which represent the basic social and political process affecting the dependent variables; and to point out  the impact of policy decision on the environment.