Changing Policy Mindsets: ESD and NCP Compared

Abstract

National Competition Policy (NCP) and Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) share a number of common characteristics. They are both meta policies, broad in their scope and sweeping in their ambitions. Both emerged in the early 1990s and both depended on high levels of political commitment and co-ordination for their success. However, while NCP prospered, ESD stalled. This article examines the changing fortunes of the two policy initiatives by looking for differences in policy scope, monitoring, incentives and funding arrangements. These differences, attributable in part to levels of political and policy commitment, help to explain ESD s relatively weaker outcomes vis-a-vis NCP.