Policy Paradigm Research Articles

Understanding the climate change adaptation policy landscape in South Africa

ABSTRACT Climate change is a key socioeconomic and environmental concern in South Africa. The South African government introduced several climate change initiatives to address the impacts of climate change, resulting in the proliferation of climate adaptation policies across spheres of government. This paper studies different climate change adaptation policies and climate policy paradigms (CPP) to understand the adaptation landscape; it explains and compares the changes in CPP in South Africa over time. We mapped 40 policy documents from 2004 to 2022, which shows 12 national policies, 12 provincial (sub-national) policy documents and 14 metropolitan city policy documents. We then used 12 national policy documents to illustrate and understand the CPP. The research shows that different stakeholders have shaped climate change adaptation policy, both private and public firms advised on climate change policy and there are a number of different funding partners supporting the adaptation policy like GEF, C40 and GIZ. The changing policy environment has introduced new frameworks, objectives and processes. Therefore, more efforts will be needed going forward to guide adaptation policy across national, provincial and local governments. We find that several CPPs have emerged, that is different paradigms encompassing a range of policy goals, framings and instruments. The present National CC Adaptation Strategy (NCCAS) mandates adaptation across all levels of government and allows all important stakeholders to address climate change consequences. This NCCAS increases the number and ambition of adaptation policy, encourages integrated approaches, policy coherence and clear direction on how to handle climate risks and impacts in varied South Africa and its global commitment. Changes in policy paradigm enable the use of new policy instruments, including funding and budget mechanisms. Finally, climate adaptation policy has become more ambitious and stringent, requiring all levels of government to plan for climate change.

How ideas shape the EU's climate policy: Moving toward the sufficiency paradigm for the EU ETS

AbstractThis article examines the paradigm shifts in the European Union's (EU's) climate policy from 2009 to 2022 looking closer at the main policy instrument of EU's climate policy, the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The paradigm shifts of the EU ETS are linked to the climate policy paradigms prometheanism/growth unlimited (PGU), ecological modernization (EM), and sufficiency. The question of how ideas have shaped EU climate policy and the EU ETS in the past decade is answered, with the establishment of the EM paradigm and moving toward the sufficiency paradigm. There is a need for more research looking closer at how this paradigm shift impacts legislation for climate policy going forward.

Policy styles and India’s national action plan on climate change (NAPCC)

ABSTRACT This article assesses India’s policy style, with respect to climate change particularly the launch of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The NAPCC was India’s first significant climate policy document that demonstrates a paradigm shift from the “structural conflict” policy paradigm towards “embedded liberalism”. Policy ideas favouring “embedded liberalism” emerged from the Indian state were significant for the formulation of the NAPCC. The NAPCC was formulated due to a proactive and partially consensual policy style. The policymaking processes of “learning & puzzling” regarding a domestic climate policy involved relevant state and non-state actors and the policy idea was “powered” by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). This article explores interactions between state and non-state actors to find that the Indian government, in the context of the global aspirations of an emerging power facilitated and led the formulation of the NAPCC under an embedded liberal climate policy paradigm.

Pathways to develop state capacity in a weak state: the sub-national state of Bihar in India

ABSTRACT This article aims to unravel how a weak state develops state capacity – an aspect hitherto ignored in mainstream literature. This is a study of a sub-national case of Bihar in India. Historically, Bihar is considered a weak state, lacking state capacity. Yet, improvements have occurred in recent decades. By profiling two areas of improved outcomes: infrastructure (roads and bridges) and welfare (distribution of bicycles to school-going girls), the article argues that the improvements are the outcome of the political and bureaucratic elite’s ideas and political will. The case of Bihar shows that the rationalities within a state depend on social learning, puzzling, and powering, having a powerful impact on policy paradigms even in weak states.

The Politics of EU Gender Equality Policies: Prospects for Changing Gender Equality Paradigm at the EU

Gender equality has long been a central theme of the European social model since the Maastricht Treaty. Using the example of work - life balance policies, this article aims to identify two successive periods and explore the changing policy paradigm with respect to gender equality at the EU. In so doing, the article draws on two conceptual approaches in terms of theoretical basis: (a) Esping-Andersen’s three welfare pillar conceptualisation and (b) genderised and de-genderised distinction. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review and the content analysis of official EU policy texts, the article contends that the EU gender policies have shifted away from serving to change the redistribution of work between men and women, towards improving women’s employment opportunities.

An appraisal of Nigeria's foreign policy role in Africa's development, 2010-2022

Nigeria's foreign policy is a strategic instrument intricately woven into the fabric of its national interests. Since its independence in 1960, Nigeria has steered an external strategy with the African continent at its nucleus, emblematic of its steadfast commitment to nurturing stability and prosperity across Africa. Through varying administrations, the Nigerian government has consistently upheld the core tenets of its foreign policy, steadfastly adhering to its Afrocentric orientation. This study examined Nigeria's foreign policy's role in the developmental trajectory of Africa during the period from 2010 to 2022. Employing a qualitative methodology, it harnesses secondary data from a comprehensive review of esteemed academic sources, including textbooks, scholarly journals, authoritative reports, and online repositories. Systems theory was applied to guide the research. The findings clearly illustrate Nigeria's pronounced contributions through its Afrocentric foreign policy paradigm – engendering unity, catalysing collaboration, nurturing peace and stability, and directing developmental resources to regions characterized by harmonious relations. Ultimately, this study illuminates the comprehensive spectrum of Nigeria's impact on Africa's developmental odyssey, ranging from active regional leadership participation to counter-terrorism endeavours and poverty abatement. Consequently, this research advocates for a sustained optimization of Nigeria's contributions, thereby fortifying internal tranquillity and urging a meticulous evaluation of the underlying socio-political tensions within Nigeria.Nzewigbo A. A. (2023). An appraisal of Nigeria's foreign policy role in Africa's development, 2010-2022. People centred – The Journal of Development Administration (JDA), 8(3), 57-67. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jda.v8i3.2
 Visit journal website: https://jda.africasocialwork.net

Adult education in a neoliberal policy paradigm

ABSTRACT Ten years on from the formation of SOLAS (An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaig agus Scileanna) and the Education and Training Boards (ETBs) in Ireland, it is appropriate to reflect on where adult education lies in the new Further Education and Training (FET) sector. This paper uses Denis O'Sullivan's schematisation of policy paradigms (2005) as an analytical tool, to explore the components of the new sector. New concepts have been introduced, such as ‘FET’ and ‘active inclusion’, others such as ‘adult education’ have disappeared, and others such as ‘transversal skills’, ‘lifelong learning’ and the ‘needs of learners’ have been adapted, introducing a language of doublespeak. The discourse has changed; a theme of performativity is now prioritised while the wider benefits of learning are mentioned, but not actioned. There is a new authority with bureaucratic social configurations and the identities of teachers and students are being reduced to producers and consumers of learning outcomes. This paper shows how these changes have resulted in a new neoliberal policy paradigm for adult education, with strong regulatory powers. Understanding this is the first step in questioning its authority and discussing if this is what we, as a society, want for the education of adults.

Crisis and paradigm change in the European semester: from austerity to investment-oriented policy ideas

ABSTRACT The policy-responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have fuelled expectations about potential paradigmatic change in European Economic Governance (EEG). Building on existing scholarship on policy paradigms, we develop testable expectations about the steps preceding paradigmatic change, which we explore on the basis of three types of data. First, we show how public spending in three key Eurozone countries between 2008 and 2021 follows predicted patterns of the punctuated equilibrium model. Second, we show that governments’ justifications for their annual budgets reflect a gradual change in policy-ideas between 2009 and 2020, following the expected three orders of change. Third, we show how this gradual change is also present in the European Country-Specific Recommendations and in the bureaucratic logics within the European Commission. Our findings reconcile three strands of scholarship on policy change and have implications for our understanding of the European integration process and for future research on economic policy-making within EEG.

Rapid Evolution of Refugee Policy in Poland: Russian Invasion of Ukraine as a Focusing Event

The article uses the concept of a focusing event to shed light on the specificity of the political transformation process in response to an unexpected event. The analysis shows that as a result of the focusing event: Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a series of non-paradigmatic political changes took place in Polish refugee policy. These changes were rapid, but they were of an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary nature. This is due to a number of factors. The influx of refugees led to the creation of new legal regulations, but these did not deal with the rights of refugees in general, but only with the group of migrants from Ukraine, for whom a separate legal category was created. Refugees from Ukraine are primarily women, which strengthened the social legitimacy of the relief efforts and did not initiate a securitization discourse as with other refugee groups. Moreover, migrants from Ukraine had for years been the largest group of foreigners (mainly labor migrants) in the receiving country, which facilitated the formulation of adequate systemic solutions and improved grassroots refugee assistance activities. Political change has not challenged policy paradigms, such as the desire to admit migrants mainly from countries which are culturally similar. As the analysis of political discourses shows, supporting them is perceived as a proxy for military engagement in helping Ukraine. The study covers 100+ documents of discursive and normative policy (public statements by political stakeholders, legal acts).

The Spatial Pattern Evolution of Rural Settlements and Multi-Scenario Simulations since the Initiation of the Reform and Opening up Policy in China

Since the inception of China’s reform and opening-up policy, the rapidly advancing process of urbanization and the primacy accorded to urban development policies have imparted increasingly profound ramifications on rural domains. Nonetheless, antecedent research has predominantly fixated on urban sprawl, overlooking the spatial metamorphosis of rural settlements and the prospective developmental trajectories within the policy paradigm. Consequently, this inquiry endeavors to scrutinize the evolution of the spatial configuration of rural settlements in She County from the advent of reform and opening-up (1980–2020) utilizing remote sensing data. In tandem, through scenario delineation and the utilization of the CLUE-S model, it aspires to prognosticate the evolving trends in the spatial arrangements of rural settlements in She County by 2035. The empirical findings divulge that (1) The temporal progression of rural settlement spatial configurations in She County over the preceding four decades can be delineated into two discernible phases. From 1980 to 2000, alterations in the number, extent, and spatial morphological attributes of rural settlements remained circumscribed. While the count of rural settlements registered a diminution (by 3), the aggregate extent experienced a marginal augmentation (by 8.45%), concomitant with a gradual gravitation towards regular boundaries, manifesting a stochastic distribution throughout the investigation expanse. Conversely, from 2000 to 2020, the quantity and extent of rural settlements in She County underwent a precipitous augmentation (92 and 36.37%, respectively), characterized by irregular peripheries. (2) The CLUE-S model achieved an overall precision of 0.929, underscoring its applicability in emulating fluctuations in rural settlements. (3) Within the new-type urbanization scenario, the cumulative expanse of rural settlements witnessed a decline of 35.36% compared to the natural development scenario, marked by substantial conversions into grassland and urban land usage. Furthermore, orchestrated planning and directive measures have propelled the consolidation of rural settlements in She County, engendering a more equitable and standardized layout. Under the aegis of the ecological conservation scenario, the total rural settlement area recorded a 0.38% reduction vis-à-vis the natural development scenario, primarily entailing competitive coexistence with arable land, grassland, and urban land usage in spatial terms.

A Study on Pedestrian Satisfaction Among the Mobility Disadvantaged Persons According to Urban Form

As for the paradigm of sustainable development, policies and research focusing on the improvement on convenience for mobility disadvantaged persons are currently underway. Physical facilities are constantly improving, but mobility disadvantaged pedestrian satisfaction is not commensurate with it. Therefore, local government should consider other requirements as well as improving the installation of mobility convenience facilities. This study paid attention to the opinion in urban planning that compact cities are walkable cities and examined whether the urban form, a regional characteristic, affects the pedestrian satisfaction of the mobility disadvantaged persons. In order to investigate the relationship between urban form and pedestrian satisfaction, hierarchical linear models were performed using the HLM program. The urban form was measured by land cover in the city using GIS and Fragstats. The results of analyses (Model 1∼4) showed that the urban form used as a variable at the regional level can explain 22–26% (variance) of the walking satisfaction. In addition, the mobility disadvantaged and sprawl urban form showed (−) in pedestrian satisfaction. The more sprawl, the opposite of compactness, the lower the satisfaction of the mobility disadvantaged person. This suggest that urban planning elements should be considered together to increase the convenience of pedestrians, including mobility disadvantaged persons.

Epistemic othering: the interplay of knowledges in legislative drafting

AbstractIn this article, we use the concept of epistemic othering to describe the subjectivation of people who experience debt problems in the legislative drafting process, and argue that the evidence‐based policy paradigm, together with its participatory dimension, produce a potentially harmful subject position for people who are considered vulnerable and irrational. By analysing the preparatory material of Finnish interest rate cap laws, we explore what is constructed as rational and possible in the legislative process, and how these modalities frame the use of expert knowledge. We argue that what is considered rational is constructed in terms of market logic, and what is construed as possible is heavily framed by law‐as‐knowledge. Together, market logic and law‐as‐knowledge form the preconditions for the use of expert knowledge. Ultimately, the way in which these three types of knowledge interact contributes to the epistemic othering of people who experience debt problems.

The ideological roots of the activation paradigm: How justice preferences and unemployment attributions shape public support for demanding activation policies

AbstractResearch either focused on self‐interest or left–right ideology to explain support for demanding active labour market policies (ALMPs). This article focuses instead on how attitudes towards these policies are rooted in the underlying policy paradigm. We link attitudes towards ALMPs to two pillars of the activation paradigm: distributive justice and unemployment attributions. Structural equational modeling is employed on the Belgian National Election Study data of 2014 (N = 1901). Individuals supporting the principles of need and equity and who blame the unemployed are more in favour of demanding activation. These frameworks and hence the policy paradigm thus have substantial predictive power.

Exploring the Role of Latin American Universities in the Implementation of Transformative Innovation Policy

Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP) is a new paradigm in science, technology, and innovation policy that seeks to produce a transition to sustainable development. In this paradigm, universities are crucial actors in the dynamics of science, technology, and innovation, but their role in the implementation of TIP should be defined. The objective of this article is to contribute to the understanding of the ideal role of Latin American universities in the implementation of TIP. Therefore—to describe and analyze the concepts of university and TIP in Latin America—this case study examines the co-creation of a public policy of science, technology, and innovation by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in that region. This article underscores the vital role of universities in promoting transformative innovation that fosters social inclusion and sustainability. To achieve this goal, structural policy changes should be implemented, and different stakeholders (including researchers, students, and civil society) should be actively engaged. This paper also highlights the importance of addressing socio-economic, cultural, political, cognitive, and environmental issues faced by marginalized communities. By embracing the principles of transitions theory and prioritizing transformative innovation, universities can make significant contributions towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Catalysing sustainable development through regional food system governance: Strengthening the translation of regional food system policy guidance to national level in the Pacific

AbstractRecent food system shocks and increasing climate change exposures highlight the urgency of strengthening food systems at different scales, including global, regional and national, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper investigated opportunities to strengthen the translation of regional food system policy guidance to the national level in the Pacific Island region. We applied a theory‐informed, empirical study design, based on interview data. We found that inadequate regional–national translation of food system policy guidance arises from (i) competing demands on limited resources, exacerbated by challenges of financing multisectoral initiatives; (ii) often weak regional–national dialogue; and (iii) perceived tension of economic, social and environmental priorities in dominant policy paradigms. These barriers may be addressed by establishing a regional food system governance structure and accountability mechanisms as well as a paradigm shift to balance focus between food system priorities. Current drives to implement National Food System Transformation Pathways may provide necessary impetus to realise these opportunities.

Performing social policy diffusion: Reflections on agents as social protection policy entrepreneurs in Africa

A growing literature explains the diffusion of social protection policies and, in particular, cash transfer programmes throughout Africa since the early 2000s as a paradigmatic policy transfer process. Most contributions emphasise the central role of transnational development agencies in this process, which is typically characterised as ‘donor-driven’. This article argues that individual agents, notably consultants who were commissioned by agencies to perform various roles in persuading African governments to introduce social protection, played a dual role insofar as many also shaped the positions of the agencies that hired them. They achieved both by deploying a range of influencing strategies associated with policy entrepreneurship, such as rhetorical persuasion, demonstration, and advocacy events. Other tactics, identified by the author from in-depth interviews conducted with 26 influential agents, include ‘piggybacking’, ‘Trojan horse’, and ‘accelerator events’. Although these agents believe in the value of their work, some expressed concern about their role in driving policy changes in African countries that appear to reflect the ideas and preferences of the international community, rather than aligning with the policy priorities of national governments.

Futuremaking in a disaster zone: Everyday climate change adaptation amongst Quechua women in the Peruvian Cordillera Blanca

The Peruvian Andes has experienced widely publicized, climate change induced glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), which increasingly threaten the lives of thousands of the region's residents. However, the everyday adaptations of the most historically marginalized populations in the Andes—often Quechua women in highland communities—are frequently obscured by a singular focus on glacier and water management to prevent high-impact but infrequent GLOFs. This focus on glacier hazards downplays and renders invisible the ways that Quechua women actually adapt to climate change by labeling them 'highly vulnerable' despite a limited understanding of their daily lives. Through a case study in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range, this article advances a feminist framework of everyday adaptation called ‘futuremaking’ that challenges the current ice-and-water-focused paradigm of adaptation policy in glaciated regions. We draw on interviews with Quechua women, participant observation on adaptation planning teams, and informal expert interviews to advance the futuremaking framework, which prioritizes the everyday and future desires of women and households over technical adaptations that view people as vulnerable. Futuremaking is a feminist process of everyday adaptation in a disaster zone that relies on A) Prioritizing the everyday over the someday; B) Intergenerational well-being and community networks of care, and; C) Dynamic and embodied adaptations to uncertainty. We argue that futuremaking both challenges the efficacy of adaptation projects currently underway in the Andes and charts a path towards more transformative adaptation interventions by prioritizing capabilities and feminist networks of care over managing damage and disaster.

The Expectation and Reality of the HepG2 Core Metabolic Profile.

To represent the composition of small molecules circulating in HepG2 cells and the formation of the "core" of characteristic metabolites that often attract researchers' attention, we conducted a meta-analysis of 56 datasets obtained through metabolomic profiling via mass spectrometry and NMR. We highlighted the 288 most commonly studied compounds of diverse chemical nature and analyzed metabolic processes involving these small molecules. Building a complete map of the metabolome of a cell, which encompasses the diversity of possible impacts on it, is a severe challenge for the scientific community, which is faced not only with natural limitations of experimental technologies, but also with the absence of transparent and widely accepted standards for processing and presenting the obtained metabolomic data. Formulating our research design, we aimed to reveal metabolites crucial to the Hepg2 cell line, regardless of all chemical and/or physical impact factors. Unfortunately, the existing paradigm of data policy leads to a streetlight effect. When analyzing and reporting only target metabolites of interest, the community ignores the changes in the metabolomic landscape that hide many molecular secrets.

Policy paradigm modes: explaining USA antitrust law changes in the 1970s

Abstract This article advances the theory of policy paradigms by investigating when paradigms are rigid, constraining alternative perspectives and policy options, and when instead they are more flexible, allowing actors to overcome paradigmatic restrictions and differences. Departing from the existing theories on policy paradigms, I conceptualize paradigm rigidity and flexibility as characteristics that develop endogenously within the policy-making process, shaped by the types of policy changes that are proposed and discussed and by the types of framing strategies policy actors employ to support their proposals. Policy paradigms can therefore have both rigid and flexible modes within the same policy area and in the same period. Conceiving paradigms in modes helps us better understand how policies change when there are competing paradigms and exogenous crises. I illustrate this empirically with an analysis of the debates surrounding four antitrust (competition) policy change proposals in the USA during the 1970s.

How 21st Century Population Issues and Policies Differ from Those of the 20th Century

Population issues and population policies have evolved considerably between the 20th and the 21st centuries. In the 1970s, most countries confronted rapid population growth, and this situation was particularly severe in Asia. Today, on the contrary, more than half of the world population is experiencing low fertility and population aging, and several countries with very low fertility are facing the prospect of depopulation. Only one region, i.e., sub-Saharan Africa, still experiences high fertility levels. Similarly, the discussions about whether and how to intervene on population trends have also evolved over the past 70 years. Demographically focused approaches to family planning provision were dominant views in the second half of the 20th century. However, since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994, international population policy paradigms have been reframed to stress the freedom of couples and the reproductive rights of individuals. Consequently, policy interventions have favored client-focused and gender-sensitive approaches. Finally, to help chart the way forward, population policies will need to consider several key elements, broadening from a focus on support for family planning to an array of policy instruments including health, education, and culture, all of which shape future populations. This new policy framework includes the prioritization of interventions, policy consensus building, the selection of priority constituencies, the institutionalization and funding of policies, and the promotion of evidence-based and research-driven policies. In addition, in order to adapt their interventions to local contexts, population policies will need to be holistic, to promote integrated interventions, and to align with international development frameworks.