Policy Conflict Research Articles

How Industries Use Direct-to-Public Persuasion in Policy Conflicts: Asymmetries in Public Voting Responses

Industries use persuasion strategies to gain public support when challenged by activist groups on consumer-relevant issues. This marketing practice, termed “direct-to-public persuasion,” has received limited attention in the field, and thus we have little understanding of when such campaigns fail or succeed. This research introduces a theoretically derived and empirically supported framework that draws from multiple areas, including marketing persuasion, political campaign strategy, sociopolitical legitimacy, and perceptual fit, to identify important differences in the effectiveness of these persuasion strategies on attitudes and voting behavior. The multimethod approach includes a field study of ballot measure voting during a national U.S. election and three experimental studies. The findings contribute new knowledge of asymmetries in public response to industry and activist arguments. Stronger arguments from both sides lead to more favorable outcomes, but activist groups benefit most. Suspicion of activist arguments weakens the impact on attitudes and voting; industry argument suspicion has limited impact, though it does increase the likelihood of voter switching. A financial argumentation strategy works best for the industry side, while societal argumentation is more effective for the activist side. The insights offer guidance for industries and activist groups as argument strategy success is contingent on the side that uses it.

Divide to conquer? Strategic parliamentary opposition and coalition government

Parliamentary elections often result in the formation of a coalition government. While the legislative process allows actors within a coalition government to monitor each other, little attention has focused on how opposition parties respond to coalition government. We argue that opposition parties have incentives to uncover and highlight differences and tensions within the governing coalition. A strategy by the opposition to use legislative tools to uncover policy conflicts and ministerial drift within the coalition increases intra-coalition tensions, potentially generating electoral costs for the governing parties, and potentially even hastening the coalition’s demise. To test our argument, we build and analyse a new dataset of parliamentary questions in the British House of Commons covering the 2010–15 coalition. As expected, the main opposition party appears to strategically focus questions towards policy areas that uncover intra-coalition tensions. This research highlights the importance of opposition parties in parliamentary democracies.

Using Participatory System Dynamics Modeling to Address Complex Conservation Problems: Tiger Farming as a Case Study

Conservation practitioners routinely work within complex social-ecological systems to address threats facing biodiversity and to promote positive human-wildlife interactions. Inadequate understanding of the direct and indirect, short- and long-term consequences of decision making within these dynamic systems can lead to misdiagnosed problems and interventions with perverse outcomes, exacerbating conflict. Participatory system dynamics (SD) modeling is a process that encourages stakeholder engagement, synthesizes research and knowledge, increases trust and consensus and improves transdisciplinary collaboration to solve these complex types of problems. Tiger conservation exemplifies a set of interventions in a complex social-ecological system. Wild tigers remain severely threatened by various factors, including habitat constraints, human-wildlife conflict, and persistent consumer demand for their body parts. Opinions differ on whether commercial captive tiger facilities reduce or increase the threat from poaching for trade, resulting in policy conflict among diverse stakeholder groups. This paper explains how we are working with international conservation partners in a virtual environment to utilize a participatory SD modeling approach with the goal of better understanding and promoting coexistence of humans and wild tigers. We highlight a step-by-step process that others might use to apply participatory SD modeling to address similar conservation challenges, building trust and consensus among diverse partners to reduce conflict and improve the efficacy of conservation interventions.

Statecraft and incremental change: Explaining the success of pension reforms in the United Kingdom

How were comprehensive pension reforms in the UK successfully developed, enacted and implemented from 2002 to 2015, despite changes in government composition and the financial crisis? Why were they not subject to policy conflict, electoral competition and policy reversal? Drawing on actor-centred historical institutionalism and thirty interviews with key actors, we demonstrate the critical role played by a limited number of politicians and policy entrepreneurs and their ideas and agency. Institutional continuity with the Beveridgean policy legacies of the pension system and the United Kingdom’s `growth regime’ enabled a coalition space to open up for policy agreement. between the government and Opposition parties, and for partisan electoral competition over the reforms to be `bracketed’. The incremental and interlocking nature of the reform package reduced interest group opposition and enabled a centralisation of decision-making power. A long-term timeframe for reform cemented the formation of an elite coalition and buttressed political control. Cross-party support for the reform package, coupled with judicious phasing of the implementation of auto-enrolment and fiscal reforms, enabled it to withstand the impact of the financial crisis and the austerity that followed it, and to minimise opposition among the critical electoral constituency of older voters. The dominance of the reform process by political actors and policy entrepreneurs in the UK nonetheless came at a price, as institutional continuity and incrementalism foreclosed alternative reforms. We demonstrate the importance of political statecraft and policy entrepreneurship in the UK pensions’ reform process, but within boundaries set by its institutional context.

Identity, Beliefs, and Political Conflict

AbstractWe present a theory of identity politics that builds on two ideas. First, when policy conflict renders a certain social divide—economic or cultural—salient, a voter identifies with her economic or cultural group. Second, the voter slants her beliefs toward the stereotype of the group she identifies with. We obtain three implications. First, voters’ beliefs are polarized along the distinctive features of salient groups. Second, if the salience of cultural policies increases, cultural conflict rises, redistributive conflict falls, and polarization becomes more correlated across issues. Third, economic shocks hurting conservative voters may trigger a switch to cultural identity, causing these voters to demand less redistribution. We discuss U.S. survey evidence in light of these implications.

A qualitative exploration of pharmacovigilance policy implementation in Jordan, Oman, and Kuwait using Matland\u2019s ambiguity-conflict model

BackgroundAs Arab countries seek to implement the ‘Guideline on Good Pharmacovigilance Practice (GVP) for Arab countries’, understanding policy implementation mechanisms and the factors impacting it can inform best implementation practice. This study aimed to explore the mechanisms of and factors influencing pharmacovigilance policy implementation in Arab countries with more established pharmacovigilance systems (Jordan, Oman), to inform policy implementation in a country with a nascent pharmacovigilance system (Kuwait).ResultsMatland’s ambiguity-conflict model served to frame data analysis from 56 face-to-face interviews, which showed that policy ambiguity and conflict were low in Jordan and Oman, suggesting an “administrative implementation” pathway. In Kuwait, policy ambiguity was high while sentiments about policy conflict were varied, suggesting a mixture between “experimental implementation” and “symbolic implementation”. Factors reducing policy ambiguity in Jordan and Oman included: decision-makers’ guidance to implementors, stakeholder involvement in the policy’s development and implementation, training of policy implementors throughout the implementation process, clearly outlined policy goals and means, and presence of a strategic implementation plan with appropriate timelines as well as a monitoring mechanism. In contrast, policy ambiguity in Kuwait stemmed from the absence or lack of attention to these factors. Factors reducing policy conflict included: the policy’s compliance with internationally recognised standards and the policy’s fit with local capabilities (all three countries), decision-makers’ cooperation with and support of the national centre as well as stakeholders’ agreement on policy goals and means (Jordan and Oman) and adopting a stepwise approach to implementation (Jordan).ConclusionsUsing Matland’s model, both the mechanism of and factors impacting successful pharmacovigilance policy implementation were identified. This informed recommendations for best implementation practice in Arab as well as other countries with nascent pharmacovigilance systems, including increased managerial engagement and support, greater stakeholder involvement in policy development and implementation, and undertaking more detailed implementation planning.

Introduction—Stories of the old world: The Narrative Policy Framework in the European context

Introduction—Stories of the old world: The Narrative Policy Framework in the European context

Fatal remedies. How dealing with policy conflict can backfire in a context of trust‐erosion

AbstractThis article investigates the relationship between policy conflict and trust‐erosion. It concludes that in a context of trust‐erosion, practices to deal with conflict may backfire and lead to further conflict escalation. The article draws on an in‐depth analysis of 32 interviews with key actors in the conflict over a contested multibillion‐euro highway project in Antwerp (Belgium). It concludes that while all actors draw on the policy repertoire of “managing public support” to explain the conflict, their perspectives of what it means for a policy to have public support differ. Practices to “manage public support” that made sense from one perspective, contributed to the erosion of trust from those holding a different perspective, thus further escalating the conflict. Practices intended to end conflict proved to be fatal remedies.

Policy or scientific messaging? Strategic framing in a case of subnational climate change conflict

AbstractClimate change and the implementation of climate‐energy policies remains highly contentious in the United States. Prior research makes clear that the way polices are “framed” powerfully shapes how they are conceptualized. This article explores framing dynamics within a 2015–2016 case of subfederal climate‐energy policy conflict in the state of Illinois, which culminated with the passage of the Future Energy Jobs Act: legislation that contained significant environmental initiatives. I investigate this episode through a process tracing case study, incorporating qualitative content analysis and semi‐structured interviews with stakeholders. Results suggest that stakeholders strategically framed their policies in terms of economic benefits, and other aspects of a policy's design, as opposed to focusing on climate change or climate science. In this way, Illinois was able to pass a comprehensive climate‐energy policy with bipartisan support—an outcome infrequently seen in other states around the country.

Comparing policy conflict on electricity transmission line sitings

Maintaining the quality and reliability of electricity transmission lines is central to effective energy governance. However, transmission line siting is often a contentious policy decision since permitting and constructing lines may involve private and public property, residents and communities, and localized and national concerns. Yet, policy conflict in transmission siting across cases and over time has remained largely understudied. This article derives and tests hypotheses about policy conflict in the context of transmission lines completed or constructed between 2017 and 2018 in the United States. In exploring the full population of transmission lines, we find that a majority exhibit relatively low and moderate levels of conflict and attention rather than high levels. We further examine a subset of six of these cases that represent a range of conflict and attention intensity. We describe variation in the diversity of actors and frames, advocacy coalitions, and the volume of discourse associated with transmission line siting over time. As problems related to energy governance have become more complex, energy siting disputes are likely to remain a fruitful area for research on policy conflict.

Impact of land use/land cover dynamics on ecosystem service value-a case from Lake Malombe, Southern Malawi.

Lake Malombe ecosystem provides a vast range of services that are vital for the sustenance of the riparian communities. Understanding land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics, as well as the associated impacts on the multiple ecosystem service value (ESV), is extremely important in decision-making processes and effective implementation of an ecosystem-based management approach. This study analyzed the LULC dynamics from 1989 to 2019. The primary objective of the study was to assess its impact on ecosystem services (ES). The ESV was determined using LULC analysis and established global ESV coefficient. The LULC analysis showed a reduction in forest cover by 84.73% during the study period. Built-up, cultivated land, bare land, shrubs, and grassland increased considerably. Rapid population growth, climate change, government policy conflicts, and poverty were identified as the most important drivers of LULC dynamics. Based on ESVs estimations, the ES changes instigated by LULC dynamics in the study area result in an average loss of US$45.58 million during the study period. Within the same period, the lake fishery also recorded a net loss of US$8.63 million. The highest net loss of US$79.832 million was recorded from 1999 to 2019 due to increased loss of forest, a decrease in water bodies and marsh areas. The sensitivity analysis (CS) indicated that our estimates were relatively robust. This study findings provide a piece of empirical evidence that LULC dynamics in the Lake Malombe catchment have led to a significant loss of ESVs, with serious implications for the livelihoods of the local population.

시스템 사고를 활용한 정책형성의 고도화 방안 연구: 환경성이 내재화된 도시기본계획을 중심으로

This paper studies ways to improve policy formation using systems thinking to prevent or ameliorate confusion or policy conflict. In this study, the overall structure are identified by utilizing systems thinking and causal loop diagrams to pinpoint policy situations that are opposed by the development-oriented logic of urban planning and the conservation-oriented logic of environmental planning. And to resolve the problem, we propose an alternative plan called integrated urban master plan where the environmental factors are internalized. By the improvement policy formation using systems thinking, problems can be prevented in advance and policy delays or side effects can be minimized.

Analisis Sosio-Yuridis Terkait Pelaksanaaan Peraturan Perundang – Undangan atau Kebijakan Hukum Terhadap Pelayanan Rawatan Intensif Rumah Sakit di Kota Batam Tahun 2019

In the health service system, the hospital acts as a referral place and a further health service facility. The refusal of admission of patients with intensive care at the hospital, accompanied by efforts to avoid the provision of facilities and facilities from the hospital for ICU treatment, appeared in several hospitals. Even though the role of the hospital itself as a place for further treatment of primary care is so big and important. This also contradicts the main duties and functions of the hospital itself, although it still pays attention to the class of the hospital itself. There is a legal or policy conflict in the application of ICU services, between Law number 44 of 2009 concerning Hospitals, Minister of Health Regulations number 1778 of 2010 concerning guidelines for intensive care services, and Law number 24 of 2011 concerning BPJS. The ineffective application of the law is seen from the 5 factors of legal effectiveness theory described by Soerjono Soekanto, namely the legal factors themselves, law enforcers, facilities or facilities, society and culture. The implementation of Minister of Health Regulations number 1778/2010 and Law number 44/2009 on ICU tends to run less effectively, so there are still many cases of rejection of ICU admission. At the end of the study, it was found that there was a need to expalin legal / regulatory oversight of Minister of Health Regulations number 1778/2010 and Law number 44/2009 strengthening of laws / policies to become the legal basis for health services.

Foreign investment of US multinationals: The effect of tax policy and agency conflicts.

We estimate a dynamic model, featuring agency conflicts and a stochastic tax reform arrival, to evaluate how the change from a worldwide to territorial tax system, enacted under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), affects foreign investment. Although a worldwide system imposes a higher tax liability on foreign income, we show it encourages excess foreign investment by depressing the opportunity cost of capital. In our estimated model, the TCJA reduces foreign investment by 15.6% on average, with larger declines for services firms and firms with lesser agency conflicts. The reform probability, which we estimate in the model, significantly affects firms’ investment and cash holdings.

Decision making framework for the proactive policy conflict management: The case of new airport projects in South Korea.

We propose a decision-making framework on infrastructure policy conflict management based on a scientific approach. We developed a decision-making framework that consists of the systematic conflict structure diagnosis, decision-making accordingly, and feedback to be used consistently in the policy life cycle and applied it to new airport projects in South Korea. We suggested a model structure of conflict factors leading to the generation of conflict situations and damages in the process and developed the conflict level diagnosis table and the conflict level matrix formed of the possibility of conflict generation and the severity based on the table. We then implemented a decision-making framework that includes decision-making based on it. The case analysis results confirmed the need for a structural diagnosis of conflict and decision-making based on the framework. The developed framework is expected to have scalability for science progress on infrastructure policy conflict management.

Problem complexity and narratives in Moscow's waste controversy

AbstractPublic problems are not complex per se but are defined as such. This article explores how problem definition in terms of complexity is strategically used in narratives to expand or contain a policy conflict. We draw on the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to examine how actors use narratives to define problems and link these problems to solutions and characters. Empirically, we examine narratives used in the Moscow waste management debate by drawing on content analysis of online texts and interviews. The results show that government actors seek to contain conflict by assigning less complexity to the waste problem than nongovernmental actors, who expand conflict by defining the waste problem as politically complex. Narratives with high problem complexity include many victims and villains and propose multifaceted and institutional solutions, while narratives with low problem complexity focus on technocratic solutions. Implications for the Russian waste controversy and the NPF are discussed.

The Effect of Intergovernmental Policy Conflict on Immigrants’ Behavior: Insights from a Survey Experiment in California

AbstractAs Congress remains gridlocked on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform, immigration policy debates, particularly with respect to interior immigration enforcement, are increasingly taking place at state and local levels. Scholarship on immigration federalism has focused on federal and local governments, while states are passing laws that tighten or delimit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (i.e., “sanctuary policies”). Simultaneously, cities are passing laws contradictory to state policy. We examine how these state and local enforcement ambiguities affect undocumented immigrants’ trust in the efficacy of sanctuary policies. Using California as a case, we embedded an experiment in a survey of undocumented immigrants and find trust in sanctuary policies decreases when cities seek to opt out of statewide sanctuary laws. Further, “opting out” has negative implications for the daily behavior of undocumented immigrants, like the chilling effects resulting from local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Editorial Introduction: Exploring policy diffusion, collaborative governance, and policy conflict

Editorial Introduction: Exploring policy diffusion, collaborative governance, and policy conflict

Environmental justice in Natura 2000 conservation conflicts: The case for resident empowerment

Literature concerned with Natura 2000 highlights that conflicts emerged when local communities felt the implementation of the policy was unfair. In the paper, we extend those arguments and say that the contested nature of Natura 2000 conflicts is best understood through a framework of environmental justice that embraces the importance of empowering residents and communities in Natura 2000 processes. We draw from Nancy Fraser's critical approach that organizes justice issues within distribution, recognition and representation domains simultaneously. It enables us to look at the Natura 2000 conservation conflicts from a critical standpoint of local communities. With it, we conceptualize the role of resident empowerment to compliment examinations of environmental policy conflicts. To re-construct the case of Natura 2000 conservation conflicts through the lens of pluralistic environmental justice perspective, we revisit processes in which a sense of (in)justice about Natura 2000 policy nourished conservation conflicts in Poland.

Object Oriented Policy Conflict Checking Framework in Cloud Networks (OOPC)

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) provides a programmable framework for multi-tenant cloud network management and orchestration. The end-to-end packet processing induced by virtual network functions (VNFs) like stateless firewall, load balancer, intrusion detection, and prevention system (IDPS) in a network involves the processing of network traffic through security policies matching the traffic pattern defined in security rules of individual VNF. The conflicting rules in terms of traffic match and conflicting actions can lead to a) violation of security requirements (authentication and authorization bypass) b) mission requirements - the presence of redundant rules (increased latency, reduced throughput). We present a new object-oriented policy conflict detection and resolution framework (OOPC), which analyzes the rule dependency relationships between the rules of heterogeneous virtual network functions (VNFs) and creates a VNF-Graph. The rules are analyzed using object-oriented dependencies between the address space and actions of VNF rules. OOPC utilizes a compact VNF-Graph, which leads to a reduction in search complexity when analyzing new security policies. Our security policy composition in our framework OOPC achieves 37 percent lower latency in policy graph composition than previous work. The proposed solution performs 20 percent faster security policy conflict detection on a cloud network with 60k OpenFlow rules than prior frameworks that serve a similar purpose.