1. A method for identifying policy conflicts between a base policy and a changed policy comprising: generating, by executing software, a first graph that represents the base policy, the first graph including a plurality of base nodes and one or more base edges, each of the base nodes having a content and an identity, the content of each of the base nodes representing an attribute, a logic statement and/or a decision statement of the base policy, and the base edges representing one or more semantic relationships among the base nodes; generating the identity of each base node by hashing the content of the base node and an identity of each child-base node of the base node; generating a second graph that represents the changed policy, the second graph including a plurality of changed nodes and one or more changed edges, each of the changed nodes having a content and an identity, the content of each of the changed nodes representing an attribute, a logic statement and/or a decision statement of the changed policy, and the changed edges representing one or more semantic relationships among the changed nodes; generating the identity of each changed node by hashing the content of the changed node and an identity of each child-changed node of the changed node; comparing base decision paths against changed decision paths, each of the base decision paths extending from a base root-node to a base node whose content represents a base decision, each of the changed decision paths extending from a changed root-node to a changed node whose content represents a changed decision; and outputting a base decision path that does not have a corresponding changed decision path and a changed decision path that does not have a corresponding base decision path as potentially conflicting paths.
1. A method for identifying policy conflicts between a base policy and a changed policy comprising: generating, by executing software, a first graph that represents the base policy, the first graph including a plurality of base nodes and one or more base edges, each of the base nodes having a content and an identity, the content of each of the base nodes representing an attribute, a logic statement and/or a decision statement of the base policy, and the base edges representing one or more semantic relationships among the base nodes; generating the identity of each base node by hashing the content of the base node and an identity of each child-base node of the base node; generating a second graph that represents the changed policy, the second graph including a plurality of changed nodes and one or more changed edges, each of the changed nodes having a content and an identity, the content of each of the changed nodes representing an attribute, a logic statement and/or a decision statement of the changed policy, and the changed edges representing one or more semantic relationships among the changed nodes; generating the identity of each changed node by hashing the content of the changed node and an identity of each child-changed node of the changed node; comparing base decision paths against changed decision paths, each of the base decision paths extending from a base root-node to a base node whose content represents a base decision, each of the changed decision paths extending from a changed root-node to a changed node whose content represents a changed decision; and outputting a base decision path that does not have a corresponding changed decision path and a changed decision path that does not have a corresponding base decision path as potentially conflicting paths. 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the changed policy comprises individual policy updates.