Policy-oriented Learning Research Articles

Policy beliefs, belief uncertainty, and policy learning through the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework

Within the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), policy-oriented learning is understood as a change in policy beliefs. Additional work has noted that belief reinforcement, not just belief change, is also a potential policy learning outcome. Yet, little work has attempted to reconcile how learning could involve both belief change and belief reinforcement. In this article, I propose a policy-oriented learning model where policy beliefs – deep core, policy core, or secondary aspects – are understood as having a distribution with a central tendency (that is, the belief) as well as variance (that is, certainty associated with the belief). With policy beliefs considered as distributions, learning can be understood as changes in beliefs (that is, a change in the central tendency) as well as changes in certainty (that is, variance), and conversely, a decrease in belief uncertainty would constitute belief reinforcement. Using data from a deliberative forum that brought together various stakeholders including experts, natural resource managers, and the public to discuss environmental issues impacting coastal communities, I explore policy-oriented learning as changes in concern regarding several key issues before and after the forum. Additionally, I examine the association between concern following the forum and self-reported learning. I find support for the proposed policy-oriented learning model as shown by significant changes in average concern as well as average variance among participants across several of the issues discussed. In this way, the article makes a theoretical contribution to the ACF literature by testing the use of distributions to assess policy learning.

Tales of creation: advocacy coalitions, beliefs and paths to policy change on the ‘energy efficiency first’ principle in EU

The co-legislators of the EU adopted in July 2023 a revised version of the Energy Efficiency Directive, implying that the ‘energy efficiency first’ (EE1) principle is made legally binding for member states, to apply in policy, planning and investment decisions exceeding euro 100 million each and euro 175 million for transport infrastructure projects. The EE1 principle complements two other guiding principles of EU energy and climate policy: cost-effectiveness and consumer protection. This article analyses the policy process and politics leading to the adoption of the EE1 principle as a legal institute in EU energy and climate policy. Policy core and secondary beliefs of four different advocacy coalitions are identified, and explained what are the paths to policy change. Lines of dispute among the coalitions related to (i) the purpose and meaning of energy efficiency policy, (ii) the size of projects covered (all projects or only very large projects) and (iii) which sectors to be covered (the public sector or both the public and private sectors). The adoption of the EE1 principle as a binding provision follows an ‘external shock’ to the political subsystem of energy efficiency, namely the Paris Agreement and the subsequent adoption of an EU climate law strengthening the EU climate targets for 2030 and 2050. In addition, it is a ‘negotiated agreement’ between the Council and the Parliament, undertaken as a deliberative problem-solving exercise rather than bargaining. The deliberative nature of the negotiations opened for ‘policy-oriented learning’ across belief systems in the subsystem.

Advocacy Coalitions and Paths to Policy Change for Promoting Energy Efficiency in European Industry

This paper applied the advocacy coalition framework to explore and explain the political processes creating policies to enhance energy efficiency of European Union (EU) industry. The paper used legislation on energy audits and energy management systems as a proxy for EU policy on energy efficiency in industry. Based on qualitative text analysis of EU policy documents, including a proposal to recast the energy efficiency directive, amendments to the proposal suggested by Member States, the Council and the European Parliament, and reports from negotiations, the paper identified four advocacy coalitions with different core beliefs, spanning from those that want few companies to implement energy audits or energy management systems, and that recommendations from audits should not be mandatory to implement, to those that advocate that many companies implement energy audits and management systems and that it should be mandatory to implement measures recommended in audits. It was further found that policy change followed an external shock, deliberative negotiations, and policy-oriented learning. The identification of core beliefs and advocacy coalitions will help policymakers and other stakeholders become more aware of their own and others’ values on energy efficiency and how these could be changed. As important was the differentiation of deep core beliefs, policy core beliefs and secondary beliefs. Which beliefs can be easily changed, which cannot?

Differentiating between urban flood risk as a unitary problem and as a strand in a braided problem set: Implications for administrative coordination

Flood protection is a leading priority for urban water sustainability. Making cities more resilient to flooding has become urgent as the climate changes and as cities increasingly become the loci of human population and resources. Reducing the risk of future flooding in cities often necessitates different jurisdictions working together. They may do so because they confront a shared problem. This was the case in the City of Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, when partnering agencies shared a single focus on reducing flood risk from Beal Slough to the Nebraska State Penitentiary. In contrast, entities may band together to confront braided problems, intertwined problems that cannot be resolved independently. The Antelope Valley Project, also in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, combined addressing three problems, for which individual solutions had not been achieved: reducing flood risk from Antelope Creek, improving road transportation safety and capacity, and revitalizing neighborhoods with deteriorating physical structures. Such a scenario is becoming more frequent as cities increasingly face multiple demands on the same location. As this comparative case study demonstrates, there are implications for administrative coordination for whether flood risk reduction can be achieved as a sole focus of a project and when it cannot. The Antelope Valley Project necessitated an innovative management structure and governance process that the Beal Slough Project did not. In the Antelope Valley Project three different, stand-alone entities operating in dissimilar, substantive domains redirected their independent policies to harmonize their problem solving. Collaborative learning among policy actors in the Antelope Valley was more extensive and across policy domains than was required in the Beal Slough Project. Yet, both projects were triggered by policy-oriented learning from the remapping of their respective subwatersheds. The study contributes to understanding interdependency among policy problems and to reducing urban flood risk through administrative coordination.

Uma breve trajetória dos elementos constitutivos do Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF)

Abstract This paper aims to retrace the trajectory of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), especially its policy-oriented learning process. Initially, we contrast the elements in Sabatier and Mazmanian (1980), where the first efforts to develop an analysis model are found, with the arguments found in Sabatier (1987, 1988, and 1993). Subsequently, the historical trajectory of updates and versions of the model is discussed based on the analyses in Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith (1999), Sabatier and Weible (2007), and Jenkins-Smith et al. (2018). It was possible to follow the modifications in the model, the main hypotheses built, the criticisms, and their unfoldings. As main findings, it was evident throughout the ACF construction trajectory: four versions of the model over almost 30 years and with the decisive participation of six prominent authors who contributed to its main developments since the first version, present in Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith (1993); and Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith (1999), the model gains greater analytical capacity with the intermediate variables between the external factors and the policy subsystem and analytically refines the categories internal to the subsystem. One gap identified in this trajectory, and consequent proposal for a future research agenda, is the influence of international actors and their implications on policy modifications, a condition not explicitly addressed by the ACF in its varied versions, as highlighted by Jenkins-Smith et al. (2018).

Respon Industri Kecil Menengah (IKM) di Provinsi Jawa Timur Pada Kebijakan Sertifikasi Halal

Policy implementation has changed along with policy-oriented learning with increasing knowledge of problem parameters and factors influencing policy changes. The government establishes a halal certification policy as a systematic step to provide halal safety guarantees for producers and consumers. The halal certification policy itself changed and reaped the pros and cons, especially on the obligation to have a halal certificate for business actors with halal raw materials. Small and medium scale industries actor’s are also directly affected by this policy. Therefore, this study aims to measure the response of small and medium industries in East Java Province. This study uses a descriptive quantitative method with a sample of 400 small and medium-sized industrial business actors in East Java Province. The results of the study indicate that the halal certification policy plays a significant role for small and medium industry business actors, but the majority of the 400 samples do not know that the halal certification policy has changed. This is a separate evaluation for the government to be more optimal in socializing policy changes because of these changes. It will mean a great deal to the communities concerned.

When do disasters spark transformative policy change and why?

Floods, earthquakes, droughts, and other recurrent disasters around the globe have sparked renewed interest in whether and how disasters can be leveraged as turning points for transformation toward more sustainable and resilient societies. As the transformative potential of disasters increasingly gains prominence in different research fields, it is important to describe how different scientific approaches view the relationship. This article synthesises key insights from the policy sciences and public administration scholarship regarding the link between disruptive disaster events and policy activity aiming towards societal transformation. Key explanatory perspectives are discussed, including dynamics associated with institutional crisis, policy subsystems, agenda-setting and issue salience, governance capacity, policy-oriented learning and concentration of power, and situated in relation to four scenarios of potential disaster impacts on policymaking aiming at transformation. The results of this synthesis seek to enhance our understanding of when disasters may spark transformative change. Based on these findings, the article identifies priorities for future research into policymaking in the wake of disaster.

Policy-Oriented Learning among National Forest Stakeholders in the Pacific Northwest: The Role of Science in Changing Beliefs about Forest Management Policy

We evaluate whether national forest stakeholders in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States changed their beliefs about appropriate forest management practices and policies since adoption of the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, and whether any belief changes were due to new scientific information. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 individuals with long-term involvement in national forest policy in the Pacific Northwest. Three coalitions were identified: an amenity coalition, a commodity coalition, and a scientific management coalition. The majority of interviewees stated that they revised some of their policy beliefs, with belief changes varying by coalition. Of those who changed their beliefs, most attributed their belief changes to personal experiences and perceptions. New scientific information played a relatively small role in changing stakeholder beliefs, despite extensive scientific research on the impacts of forest management practices following in the wake of the Northwest Forest Plan.

A Study on Policy Change Path and Policy-Oriented Learning in Advocacy Coalition Framework: A Meta-analysis of Korean Policy Cases

이 연구는 옹호연합모형에서 정책변동의 주요 경로는 무엇이며, 정책중개자는 누구인지, 그리고 옹호연합들의 신념체계가 변화되는 과정에서 정책지향학습이 있었는지를 분석하였다. 이를 위해 옹호연합모형을 적용한 기존 연구들을 대상으로 메타분석을 수행하였다. 한국의 정책사례에서 정책지향학습이 가장 많이 일어난 분야는 SOC 건설 및 공공갈등 분야인 반면, 정책지향학습이 가장 많이 일어나지 않은 분야는 규제 분야 외 보건 의료분야이었다. 또한 정책지향학습이 일어난 사례에서는 정부가 주요 정책중개자의 역할을 수행한 반면, 정책지향학습이 일어나지 않은 사례에서는 정부 뿐 아니라 정부와 민간 간 협의체가 주요 정책중개자의 역할을 수행하였다. 아울러 옹호연합의 신념체계에 대해 객관적 자료로 분석이 용이할 경우 정책지향학습이 일어날 가능성이 높게 나타났다. 마지막으로 정책지향학습에 의한 정책변동의 가능성 보다는 옹호연합 간 갈등 수준이 높아질수록 정책변동의 가능성이 높아진다는 사실도 확인하였다. 분석을 통해 정책지향학습을 어떻게 정의하는지에 따라 정책지향학습의 발생 여부가 달라질 수 있다는 사실을 발견하였다. 또한 정책중개자의 존재 양식이나 역할과 정책지향학습이 언제, 어떻게, 그리고 어떠한 유형으로 나타나고 정책변동에 어떻게 영향을 주는지에 대해서는 한국의 정책사례에서는 명확한 결과가 나타나지 않았다. 이는 정책지향학습이라는 개념의 모호성 때문인 것으로 보인다.

Exploring advocacy coalitions for energy efficiency: Policy change through internal shock and learning in the European Union

This empirical study analyses policy change in the area of European Union energy efficiency policy by applying the advocacy coalition framework (ACF). The energy efficiency directive (EED) and its provisions on individual metering and billing (IMB) is used as a case study. IMB provisions have rendered substantial debate for almost a decade and the provisions were amended following successful advocacy work of the coalition opposing IMB. The study confirms recent developments of the ACF theory that internal shocks are important for policy change. Policy change followed other pathways too, particularly policy-oriented learning. As for policy-oriented learning, it was manifested in different ways, e.g. the acceptance of the core beliefs and proposals for amending the IMB provisions put forward by the coalition opposing IMB by a majority of Member States in the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the proponents of IMB. Besides contributing to development of scientific theory, the knowledge provided in the paper can inform various stakeholders to better shape their future strategies in advocacy work in European Union policy making and national policy implementation.

FSC sustainability certification as green-lane for legality verification under the EUTR? Changes and policy learning at the interplay of private governance and public policy

How do policy-oriented learning and shifting coalitions among private and public actors affect the evolution of the regulatory governance of legal and sustainable global timber commodity production and trade? To answer this question, we study the interplay between the transnational private regulation of sustainable forestry certification under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) scheme and the public policy requesting due diligence to prove the legality of global timber trade under the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR). We show that strategic policy-oriented learning and shifting coalitions among NGOs, business companies and state regulators were key shapers in the evolution and interplay of private and public regulations in the forest sector. In particular, environmental NGOs (ENGOs) and some forest-based industries first developed the non-state, market-driven FSC forest certification through a strategic alliance triggered by strategic policy learning about the failures and limitations of global state-based regulatory instruments. Following policy controversies about the eroding legitimacy and the ineffectiveness of FSC certification ENGOs, state regulators and other forest industries responded to these concerns and built a new strategic alliance to design and enforce regulatory bans and due diligence rules under the EUTR. Due to these controversies, shifting coalitions and strategic learning, private certification was not recognized as a green-lane to prove legality assurance under the EUTR. Nevertheless, FSC certification has been included, developed and practiced as part of the due diligence systems under the EUTR. In terms of theory development, our results show that strategic policy learning and processes of making and breaking strategic alliances were based on changes in core empirical beliefs based on evidence and information. However, these changes did not involve changes in core normative beliefs, which acted as main cognitive filters for breaking old strategic alliances and making new ones. These essentially cognitive mechanisms explain much of the evolution in regulatory governance interactions in the forest sector, shifting from public to private, then from private to public, and finally ending up in public-private controversies and adaptations.

Policy communities, devolution and policy transfer: The case of alcohol pricing in Wales

ABSTRACT This study investigates how processes of horizontal policy transfer can unfold in the context of devolution, examining the development of legislation on minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Wales, following on from Scotland’s earlier policy decision. The study draws on a range of sources, including primary documents, media coverage, and interviews with policy participants. Our analysis identifies the importance of the specific character of Welsh political institutions, particularly the emphasis given to participation and consultation in policymaking. In the case of MUP, we document a process of policy-oriented learning, where policymakers made a concerted effort to draw on an assortment of expertise and experiences, including but not limited to the Scottish model. We also find that the Welsh public health policy community was well placed to support the framing of MUP and to address limitations in policy capacity. The findings hold implications for future studies of learning, devolution, and alcohol policy more generally.

Learning heuristics, issue salience and polarization in the policy process

This article proposes a theory that links issue salience and actor polarisation to the uses of learning heuristics in the policy process. In harking back to research on public policy, behavioural economics, and crisis management, we argue that policy makers use two learning heuristics when they update their policy ideas: policy-oriented learning and power-oriented learning. The article develops theoretical expectations that link issue salience and polarisation of actor constellations to policy-oriented and power-oriented learning. To illustrate the theoretical expectations, the article discusses EU anti-crisis policies dealing with the 2007–2009 global financial and economic crisis and its aftermath, as well as the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany and the U.S. as pathway cases. Overall, this article contributes to the understanding of learning and the political uses of ideas in the policy process.

Policy-Oriented Learning: A Case on Initiating Long-Term Care Insurance in China’s Social Security Sector

This paper explores the initiation process of the long-term care insurance (LTCI) policy in China’s social security sector, and focuses on policy-oriented learning activities to develop initiatives from German lessons. It presents a case from the LTCI pilot program, which serves as a new policy product that provides care to the elderly and disabled and upgrades the social security sector’s performance. This study implements policy-oriented learning to construct an analytical framework and applies it to China’s social security system. This research suggests that policy-oriented learning is a rational tool used to manufacture policy products that enable intellectual development and can provide roadmaps for administrative reform. The findings contribute to the current knowledge on policy-oriented learning by offering new insights from China’s experience with LTCI, thus helping to fill the gaps that are created when policy-oriented learning is applied to different systems and contexts, with unique cultural, traditional, and political characteristics.

Advocacy coalition formation and key actors within the policy

Abstract The article discusses advocacy coalition formation and the roles of key actors in science, technology and innovation (ST&I) policies for social inclusion in a subnational context. The policy subsystem category and concept of advocacy coalition are used in the context of the advocacy coalition framework and address the need to understand the influences of key actors (policy broker and policy entrepreneur) on it. The policy subsystem was outlined using case-oriented research and the discourse was analyzed in order to understand the policy actors’ beliefs. The analysis of two cases of ST&I policy processes for social inclusion (assistive technology and social technology) highlighted policy broker and policy entrepreneur key roles in the emergence of policy subsystems, but had different effects on advocacy coalition formation. The policy entrepreneur had a closer relationship with advocacy coalition building when setting up regular mechanisms to share beliefs and policy-oriented learning, as well as taking initiatives to coordinate the collective action of members in the early advocacy coalition. Although relevant in agenda setting and maintaining a specific social inclusion agenda in the policy process, the policy broker did not achieve a positive relationship with advocacy coalition building. The article corroborates the possibility of incorporating the concept of policy entrepreneur in analyses of the advocacy coalition framework and highlights this actor’s characteristics through this analytical model.

Advocacy coalition formation and key actors within the policy

Abstract The article discusses advocacy coalition formation and the roles of key actors in science, technology and innovation (ST&I) policies for social inclusion in a subnational context. The policy subsystem category and concept of advocacy coalition are used in the context of the advocacy coalition framework and address the need to understand the influences of key actors (policy broker and policy entrepreneur) on it. The policy subsystem was outlined using case-oriented research and the discourse was analyzed in order to understand the policy actors’ beliefs. The analysis of two cases of ST&I policy processes for social inclusion (assistive technology and social technology) highlighted policy broker and policy entrepreneur key roles in the emergence of policy subsystems, but had different effects on advocacy coalition formation. The policy entrepreneur had a closer relationship with advocacy coalition building when setting up regular mechanisms to share beliefs and policy-oriented learning, as well as taking initiatives to coordinate the collective action of members in the early advocacy coalition. Although relevant in agenda setting and maintaining a specific social inclusion agenda in the policy process, the policy broker did not achieve a positive relationship with advocacy coalition building. The article corroborates the possibility of incorporating the concept of policy entrepreneur in analyses of the advocacy coalition framework and highlights this actor’s characteristics through this analytical model.

A mechanisms-based explanation of nutrition policy (dis)integration processes in Uganda

Many African governments have recently invested in strengthened nutrition policy integration to address malnutrition; as a step towards realising the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 2. Previous studies have identified various factors that enable or constrain how nutrition integration occurs across policy sectors. However, the explanatory value of these studies has remained relatively limited, as the causal processes through which independent variables affect policy outcomes remain unelucidated. This paper addresses this gap by applying a causal mechanisms approach to investigate the processes that explain observed patterns of nutrition policy (dis)integration in different ministries in Uganda. We employed a process-tracing research design to reconstruct the context-mechanism configurations that explain the observed patterns of nutrition integration in Uganda between 2000 and 2017. Data was collected from interviews with 34 respondents, various policy and programming documents, and a focus group discussion. Our analysis reveals that increased nutrition policy integration is explained by four causal mechanisms: (1) international policy promotion; (2) issue promotion by international actors; (3) issue promotion by domestic policy entrepreneurs; and (4) instrumental policy learning. Conversely, two mechanisms led to policy disintegration: (1) leadership contestation; and (2) turf wars. All mechanisms proved activated by configurations of contextual conditions that were time- and organisation-specific. This study showed how a mechanisms approach can provide a more refined understanding of policy successes and failures in nutrition governance. Whereas integration-fostering mechanisms cannot be automated, both government and international actors working to scale up investments in nutrition need to consider and invest in the contextual conditions that allow for sustained nutrition policy integration and, ultimately, a more effective delivery of nutrition services. These include developing leadership for nutrition at different governance levels, domestic ownership and integration-fostering capacity, and supporting policy-oriented learning.

Policy transfer: the case of European Union–China cooperation in public administration reform

This article addresses the Chinese government’s accelerated process of administrative reform and focuses on the decade-long effort by China to develop transfer policies with selected European nations. Providing more efficient public services and building a broad policy capacity in the face of growing internal and external challenges have prompted the Chinese government’s active engagement in this policy-oriented learning and capacity transfer. New systems of governance through international cooperation programs have been explored, and new initiatives have been adopted. This article presents a case study of the China–Europe Public Administration program, which has served as a rich source of information for government department reform in China. The China–Europe Public Administration program is a policy hub that provides various examples of policy transfer regarding public management from the European Union to China. This article expands the voluntary policy transfer network model as a heuristic approach for understanding the administration reform process, especially regarding personnel sector development in China, and suggests that policy transfer is a rational analytical framework for studying progressive administrative reform in transitional states. In addition, it is observed that policy hubs, like the China–Europe Public Administration program, have become key tools for the internationalization of neoliberal public sector reforms. In doing so, this article contributes to the burgeoning policy transfer literature, which has previously paid little attention to the situation in China.

Narrative strategies in the policy process: social and cognitive foundations

Public policy decisions are often attributed to narrative strategies that impact policy-oriented learning within and across advocacy coalitions. Public policy research recognizes the role of influential individuals and their narrative strategies in this context. Yet frameworks that have been developed through this research lack sufficient guidance to distinguish individual learners. By combining theories of dual learning and public policy processes, this paper presents new strategies to better operationalize the concept of an individual learner, measure micro-level learning and thus the impact of narrative strategies. In particular four lessons are deduced from this literature and applied to empirical research into the rise of the sustainable mobility narrative in British road policy: First, policy learners interpret the world through the lens of their beliefs, and learn by combining heuristics and analytical processing. Second, they learn in different ways according to their education and experiences. Third, learning occurs in a political environment that is shaped to different extents by entrepreneurial and brokerage strategies promoting specific narratives. Fourth, exogenous factors impact these strategies, as does policy-oriented learning.

Advocacy coalition impacts on healthy public policy-oriented learning in Alberta, Canada (2009–2016): A difference-in-differences analysis

Since 2009, the Alberta Policy Coalition for Chronic Disease Prevention (APCCP) has pursued policy, systems, and environmental change strategies engaging policy elites to promote healthy public policy for chronic disease prevention in Alberta, Canada. Employing Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) vocabulary to facilitate our analysis, we examined whether concerted advocacy by the APCCP shifted elites' belief system structures over an eight year period compared to the general public as a baseline, by fostering healthy public policy-oriented learning. As data for the study, we employed a trend design series of cross-sectional Chronic Disease Prevention Surveys in Alberta, Canada between 2009 and 2016, comparing policy elite responses in 2009 (n = 183) and 2016 (n = 174) with general public responses in 2010 (n = 1203) and 2016 (n = 1200). Drawing on four scales developed in a published exploratory factor analysis, we examined changes in elite versus public beliefs with respect to (i) behavioral etiology, (ii) socio-ecological etiology, (iii) individual responsibility, and (iv) societal responsibility. Each scale was analyzed for reliability using Cohen's alpha (α), tested for sample mean (μ) value differences with analysis of variance (ANOVA) (p < .05), and compared between groups over time using difference-in-differences analysis. Cohen's alphas above approximately 0.700 indicated acceptable scale reliability (0.692≤α ≤ 0.879). ANOVA testing indicated significant group mean difference for every scale but societal responsibility among elites (μ2009 = 13.2, μ2016 = 13.7; p = .06). Standardized beta coefficients (β) presented significant differences between elites and the public for three of four scales, excepting behavioral etiology (β = −0.009, p = .746). In ACF terms, transformation of elites' policy core beliefs is necessary, but not sufficient, for major policy change such as healthy public policy. Spanning provincial policy communities relevant to whole-of-government intervention for chronic disease prevention, our results provide evidence to support the plausibility of long term socio-ecological strategies aiming to foster policy-oriented learning among elites by advocacy coalitions like the APCCP.