Domestic Policy-making Processes Research Articles

Portuguese Fight Against Match-Fixing: Which Policies and What Ethic?

Since 2015, several institutions have been implementing educational and awareness programs to fight against match-fixing in Portugal. This article gives an account of the political measures and campaigns implemented to tackle this problem. It addresses some ethical dilemmas that underline the preventative discourses and key cognitive limitations of the policy-making process. Prevention campaigns has often been created in a top-down approach where players, referees and coaches are guided to undertake attitudes and behaviours institutionally shaped, often determined by stakeholders out of the sports industry. Moreover, the problem tends to be confined as an exclusive issue of the sports industry. To counteract this limitation, the National Olympic Committee has developed an integrity program that comprehensively addresses good governance and institutional transparency as key factors to combat the phenomenon. However, the domestic policy-making process does not include integrity as a risk factor opening avenues to widespread trans-national organized crime infiltration in sport.

A new model of development coalition building: USAID achieving legitimate access and dominant information in Bangladesh’s forest policy

The influence of non-domestic actors and institutions on domestic policymaking process has been a constant research topic for a long time in the field of development studies. During recent years, however, the coalition strategy of foreign donors seems to have changed in favor of non-governmental allies in development cooperation, instead of state bureaucracies of the target countries. As a key foreign donor, for instance, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has introduced the forest co-management development concept, altering important policy and institutional settings in Bangladesh. The changes resulted from a combination of development inputs and politics, including funding, technical assistance and coalition with multiple, mostly non-state stakeholders. In this article, we use the concepts of development policy change, the global governance theorem of direct access to domestic policymaking process, and bureaucratic politics theory from development policy analysis for analyzing this new coalition strategy. A mixed qualitative-quantitative methods approach and the case of the USAID-induced forest co-management development model were employed to analyze the new coalition strategy based on the main interests of the donor. The results indicate that in the development process, USAID formed coalitions with non-state actors at all levels, thus circumventing national bureaucracies. The donor substantially involved non-state actors to (1) overcome the dominant information of state bureaucracies by eliciting data in the donors’ informal interests, (2) gain control over the implementation process at multiple levels, and (3) enhance pressure on all levels of government for substantive policy changes. In contrast, the initial and very marginal coalitions with state agencies imply an initial cost for legitimately accessing a country’s governance system. Furthermore, such detouring of state agencies poses the questions of operational authority and, concurrently, of ownership to sustain the changed practices. A broader implication based on the study findings is to especially consider the sovereignty issue in a development context in a recipient country.

China’s Evolving Image in International Climate Negotiation: From Copenhagen to Paris

As the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, China has been a key party in global climate negotiation. External perceptions of China’s role in climate negotiation are significant for China’s domestic policy-making process and international climate efforts. Based on the case studies of two most historic climate talks, the Copenhagen and Paris climate conferences, this article attempts to examine the evolution of external perceptions on China’s role in international climate negotiation by three criteria: acceptability, credibility and constructiveness. The study shows that external perceptions of China’s role in international climate talks have changed considerably since 2009. At the Copenhagen conference, China was regarded as a “dead weight” or even a “wrecker,” though it managed to attain most of its negotiating goals. At the Paris conference, however, China was widely recognized as a global climate leader whose endeavor was indispensable for the conclusion of the Paris Agreement.

The neglected effects of Europeanization in the member states – policy-making in directly EU-influenced and sovereign domains

ABSTRACTThis article finds that the transformative power of deepening European integration on member states’ domestic policy-making processes is stronger than previously assumed. Moving beyond analysis of directly European Union-influenced domestic legislation, the article instead focuses on the indirect consequences that emerge from shifting policy competencies between levels of the European project. The main argument contends that as policy competencies move from the national to the European level, domestic policy-makers gain capacity to reallocate attention. The theoretical framework for this claim combines literature on Europeanization and agenda-setting theories to an argument of European integration’s influence on domestic policy-making processes. Empirical findings, examining 35 years of deepening European integration, suggest that patterns of policy-making for the sovereign and directly European Union-influenced domestic agenda shares assimilate as European integration progresses.

The Mexican Experience of the NAPAPI Revision Process

In 2007, Mexico, the USA and Canada signed the North America Plan for Avian and Pandemic Influenza (NAPAPI). During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the plan was implemented for the first time. After the emergency, the three countries decided to review their response, and update the plan. This study analyses the trinational negotiations towards the amended NAPAPI of 2012. More specifically, it focuses on the intergovernmental synergies and intersectoral dynamics in Mexico's domestic policy-making process relevant to the negotiations. The general research questions guiding this analysis were: how do domestic intergovernmental processes and intersectoral dynamics in Mexico affect the crafting of foreign policy? And how does international cooperation affect the domestic public health agenda? The study seeks to answer these questions by examining the H1N1 pandemic, the challenges facing Mexico in the course of the pandemic, and its experience of NAPAPI. It also examines the domestic policy process in Mexico for revising this trinational plan.

Fiscal Fatigue and Debt Sustainability: Empirical Evidence from the Eurozone 1980-2013

Fiscal fatigue may lead a country to stop adjusting when debt continues rising in spite of a prolonged fiscal adjustment. Once fiscal fatigue sets in, the country may stop adjusting, thus compromising debt sustainability. However, the absence of sufficient adjustment may be the consequence of governments implementing delayed adjustment as a result of the domestic policy-making process. This paper investigates the factors that will lead to delayed adjustment instead of fiscal fatigue in the face of rising debt. Strong institutions and underlying macroeconomic conditions can be useful in averting the fiscal fatigue, and lead to an improvement in the fiscal balance once the debt limit has been reached.

The EU's Footprint in Swiss Policy Change: A Quantitative Assessment of Primary and Secondary Legislation (1999‐2012)

In this brief contribution to the debate on Europeanization, we further expand previous work on the proportion of Swiss domestic legislation that is influenced by the EU (Gava and Varone 2012). In so doing, we focus on questions of considerable normative implications: To what extent are policy changes traceable in legal reforms “infiltrated” by the EU? Is the EU's footprint higher in primary legislation (enacted by Parliament) or in secondary legislation (enacted essentially by the Executive)? Do these linkages result from bilateral agreements (i.e. direct Europeanization) or indirect Europeanization processes? How do policy sectors differ in this regard?

Bargaining with Multinationals: Why State Capacity Matters

Dominant models of bargaining between states and multinational corporations (MNCs) have widely held that bargaining relations, especially in high-technology manufacturing, have changed from confrontational to cooperative. It is consequently argued that there is little formal entry bargaining among these actors. However, there are three primary weaknesses in this literature. First, the understanding of outcomes is limited to the terms of investment agreements. This static view ignores the dynamics of bargaining processes and decisions not to invest, which also deserve explanation. Second, it is MNC-centric, ignoring state's privileged role in relation to the governance of entry bargaining in domestic policy-making processes. Third, it views state as a monolithic entity, ignoring the bargaining that occurs inside states. To redress these issues, this article offers a state-centric bargaining model. It identifies administrative and institutional capacity as two critical components of state capacity. It chooses the entry bargaining from 2005, when Hyundai Motors Corporation considered establishing a USD1.5 billion car-manufacturing plant in Turkey. It shows that state capacity in the governance of a domestic policy-making process affects the outcome of entry bargaining: When state capacity is weak, an MNC's decision not to invest is a more likely outcome.

U.S. Free Trade Agreements and Linkages

Abstract This article examines the driving factors that account for patterns of linkages to broader economic, labor, environmental, and security issues in U.S. Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Rather than only emphasizing trade benefits or security considerations as in much recent work on FTAs, this analysis provides a richer empirical picture by focusing on the full universe of U.S. FTAs. It conceptually differentiates among different issues that might be linked to FTAs and categorizes different patterns of U.S. FTAs based on the key issues that drove negotiations. The article then examines these negotiations from a theoretical standpoint, focusing on three elements. First, it examines the degree to which linkages in the U.S. domestic policymaking process are top-down or bottom-up. Second, it considers linkages types in terms of the underlying basis for issue connections – either power or knowledge. Third, it more briefly examines the bargaining process. The conceptual and theoretical analysis is buttressed through an examination of various illustrative cases of U.S. FTA negotiations to demonstrate the utility of this approach to illuminate the variety of ‘linkage packages’ that have driven U.S. FTAs. We conclude with the broader implications of linkages politics in FTAs.

Policy Entrepreneurs and Foreign Policy Change: The Greek–Turkish Rapprochement in the 1990s

AbstractBesides systemic changes that lead to the re-prioritization of foreign policy objectives, foreign policy change is also a result of domestic policy entrepreneurs’ pursuit of a political return. Their potential to orchestrate change depends on the existing entry barriers that emanate from the political and institutional features of the domestic policy-making process. It is accentuated by system-wide developments and security crises that illustrate old policy failure. This article discusses the role of policy entrepreneurs in foreign policy change by reference to the Greek–Turkish rapprochement in the late 1990s that resulted in Turkey receiving the status of EU candidate country in 1999.

MIDDLE-SIZED POWERS IN GLOBAL FINANCE

This article evaluates the impact of the market regulatory internationalisation of finance on domestic financial services sector policy-making in Canada and France. It is argued that internationalisation has had three main effects on the way policy in the financial services sector is elaborated. Firstly, the policy discourse is adjusted to take account of new international considerations. Secondly, policy options increasingly reflect the desire by decision-makers to render their national sector more competitive. Thirdly, the scope and influence of policy networks has increased in recent years leading to greater consultation between public and private sector actors in policy development. The article concludes that while new institutional parameters are influencing domestic policy-making processes, medium sized powers like Canada and France whose financial service sectors are closely associated with the United States and Europe respectively, are not constrained by internationalisation. Rather financial service policies are janus-faced reflecting both international and domestic considerations.

Autonome malgre tout: L'internationalisation et la politique des marches financiers au Canada

This article addresses some new institutional parameters for policy-making. More specifically, we study the effects of the internationalization of markets and regulations on the domestic policy-making process through a multi-level governance framework. Analyzing the policy process for Bill C8, the latest revision of Canada's financial services sector legislation, we look at the changes in policy-making practices that result from the evolving global marketplace. We conclude that the state retains autonomy in policy-making, but that decisions are increasingly made by both public sector and non-governmental actors.

Minority policy in Central Europe: Exploring the impact of the EU's enlargement strategy

They were able to set new rules and new legislation based on EU law and learned to implement it properly. Human rights were respected and minorities protected. Nothing within this process is self-evident but is a fantastic result of a human driving-force for reform, mainly driven forward by the enlargement perspective. (Verheugen 2002) Verheugen’s argument exemplifies a widely accepted view about the profound positive impact of the EU’s enlargement process on domestic governance in Central Europe. His reference to the protection of minorities in this context is not accidental. Many politicians and regional specialists alike believe that the process leading to the eastward enlargement of the EU helped engender new and better forms of national minority protection in post -communist countries (e.g., Rupnik 2000: 123-124). But, although assumptions like these seem quite plausible, they are often put forward without much further empirical investigation. Whilst the general effects of membership conditionality and monitoring by the European Commission are acknowledged by various studies, there is little research on the particular impact of conditions and negotiations on the specific policy area of minority protection. And thus new questions spring to mind. If the prospect of EU membership was an important factor in the field of national minority protection, in what direction, then, and to what extent did the EU shape domestic policy-making on national minorities in the candidate countries? And to what extent is the EU factor still visible in current policy plans? This article explores these questions by comparing the ways in which national minority policy developed in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. 1 In recent years these three countries introduced important changes in minority policy, although not always in the same direction. By examining the presence and role of references to the EU in policy formulation, this article will attempt to determine whether ‘EU-isation’ has been a major force driving changes in national minority policy; it will also explore possible other factors. The discussion starts with a brief overview of the minority situation in the three countries under consideration. It then proceeds with a short discussion of the EU’s enlargement strategy. The core of the article, section three, will chart the development of minority policy in the three countries. It will not be my purpose to offer a detailed historical overview; rather I will focus on what appear to be the most important driving forces in the domestic policy-making process. An analysis of official policy documents will allow to assess the role the EU factor has played in this development. 2

Historical Analogies and the Cognitive Dimension of Domestic Policymaking

Established models of the domestic policymaking process accord some role to the individual decision‐maker, but they usually fail to show how policy decisions are ultimately influenced by the character of the information available to the policymakers concerned. Drawing on one prominent model of decision‐making developed by analysts of foreign policy—the analogical reasoning approach—this article proposes that individual‐level approaches are most useful in domestic policy analysis where decision‐makers must confront a discrete policy “episode” in which perceived levels of cognitive uncertainty and ambiguity are high. An analysis of decision‐making by political leaders during the 1967 Detroit riots reveals that these leaders made widespread use of historical analogies at various stages of the policymaking process. Policymakers can probably be expected to rely on analogizing under circumstances and contexts that make cognitive demands similar to those observed in the Detroit case.

George Bush and Executive Branch Domestic Policymaking Competence

This article critiques the George Bush domestic policymaking process and argues that Bush had the second‐lowest level of policy competence among postwar presidents, ranking above only Ronald Reagan. Although not overtly antianalytic like Reagan, Bush gave little thought and effort to restoring the badly damaged executive branch domestic policymaking process. The article closes with suggestions about the steps needed for, and the difficulties in establishing, a strong White House policymaking process that generates fruitful interaction among key policy advocates over time and that establishes sufficient Executive Office of the President (EOP) capacity to monitor the implementation and management of presidential policies.

Like-minded Nations and Contrasting Diplomatic Styles: Australian and Canadian Approaches to Agricultural Trade

AbstractThe pairing of Australia and Canada has become a rich source of comparative studies with respect to foreign economic policy. This matching has been largely inspired by the like-mindedness of the two countries. Yet, if Australia and Canada may be said to have similar objectives in terms of the international system, the methods through which they have attempted to pursue these objectives have differed sharply. Using international-level and domestic-level modes of analysis, this article explains the reasons for the contrasting style in the case of agricultural trade. It is demonstrated that a number of mutually reinforcing factors combine to give a tough-minded quality to Australia's approach. In contrast, because of both a greater complexity in the domestic policy-making process and the range of foreign policy options, Canada's style in the agricultural trade issue has become increasingly nuanced.

National security and domestic policy-making: the similarities and the critical differences

This analysis focuses on the discussion of whether (and how) national security and domestic policy-making processes are similar and/or different. Though many similarities are evident, it is the contention of this article that there are critical differences between national security and domestic policy-making that fundamentally affect the output from each of them. In addition, it is essential that public administrators develop a fuller understanding of national security policy-making processes since these processes do have theoretical, practical, and organizational impacts on institutional effectiveness, democratic processes, and governmental productivity. Let's remember that in the immediate post-Vietnam period many of us in the public management sectors--federal, state, and local-- dreamed of vast amounts of money being mainstreamed into the domestic coffers. Today that expectation is called the “peace dividend”. Little did we understand how much policy-making sophistication was embedded in the DOD. Ther...

A Search for Identity: The “German Question” in Atlantic Alliance Relations

AbstractMajor changes in the postwar global environment have transformed “the” German question into many German questions that continue to complicate the foreign and domestic policy-making processes in the Federal Republic. Inconsistencies between official policy pronouncements and the accepted political modus operandi are explainable in terms of four “paradoxes”: (1) the nation/state identity paradox; (2) the reunification/integration paradox; (3) the stability/security paradox; and (4) the lessons-of-history/normalcy paradox. West German commitment to the Atlantic Alliance remains unshaken, but the FRG should not be forced to choose between the U.S. and Europe, between integration with the West and further improvement in relations with the GDR. Normalization of those relations will be best served by a mutual adherence to the principles of balance, territorial integrity, confidence building and greater transparency in matters of inter-German decision making.