Abstract
AbstractThe policy studies literature is divided on how information processing takes place in policy processes. Punctuated equilibrium theory claims that policymakers tend to process information disproportionately, giving more weight to some incoming signals than to others. By contrast, thermostatic models of policymaking argue that policymakers respond in a more proportionate way. In this paper, we analyse information processing in the adoption of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) under the European Union’s (EU) Common Fisheries Policy. Based on a novel measure for the proportionality of information processing, it shows that over time TACs have become more closely aligned with incoming signals about fish stocks. This development can be explained through a combination of changing discourses around fisheries conservation and institutional adjustments in EU fisheries policy. This analysis has implications for the debate between punctuated equilibrium and thermostatic models of policymaking and our understanding of the effectiveness of EU fisheries policies.
Highlights
Processing information is crucial for effective policymaking
This paper aims to contribute to this debate by studying the way in which signals are processed in the European Union’s (EU) Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)
Our results show that the processing of ICES recommendations in setting Total Allowable Catches (TACs) under the CFP has become more proportionate over time
Summary
Processing information is crucial for effective policymaking. If policies are to address societal issues, signals about the severity and nature of those issues, as well as the effects of existing policies on them, should somehow feed back into the policy process (Jones and Baumgartner 2005). Cashore and Howlett 2007; Howlett 2009; Lindblom 1979) Like a thermostat, they compare incoming signals to established policy objectives and take corrective action when the signals show a gap with those objectives. We explore a number of potential explanations for this development over time, which may help to specify the relationship between the various approaches to information processing in the policy studies literature. We introduce our measures of (dis)proportionality and present our dataset, which consists of TACs and the scientific recommendations on which they are based This is followed by an analysis of the data, which show the (dis)proportionality of information processing in the setting of TACs over time.
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