Processes Of Policy Change Research Articles

Does risk society erode welfare state solidarity?

An influential literature suggests that one important feature of the transition from modern industrial society is the erosion of existing solidarities. People increasingly understand the risks and uncertainties they face in life as issues of personal failure and responsibility rather than as social problems to be addressed through collective action. A corresponding welfare state literature understands contemporary processes of social policy change as highlighting individual responsibility and proactivity as a result of the constraints on government from globalisation, post-industrialism and other changes. This article uses recent attitude survey data to investigate whether risk society dissolves the solidarities that provided the foundation for the traditional welfare state, and how far it offers a basis for new solidarities that may maintain support for vulnerable groups.

The Nature of Ideas, and Why Political Scientists Should Care: Analysing the Danish Jobcentre Reform from an Ideational Perspective

Research on the role of ideas has contributed greatly to our understanding of processes of policy change. The article suggests that theories that deal with interest-driven reform processes might also benefit in important ways from including ideas as a variable in their models. Arguing that ideas are useful to power-seeking actors, the article develops a theory about the nature of ideas that emphasises the dynamic and open-ended relation between actors and ideas: actors can use different strategies to affect ideas to work in their interest, but because of their intersubjective nature, ideas have a life of their own and are never fully controllable. Analysing the case of the Danish jobcentre reform it is demonstrated how ideas may be introduced by actors in order to promote their interests, but actors must use ideas with due attention to the historical background of the idea as well as which other ideas can be associated with them, both in present and future policy processes. In this way ideas create – with their dynamic nature – both possibilities and limits for power-seeking actors.

Forestry governance and collective learning process in Italy: Likelihood or utopia?

A shift from government to governance in the approaches to forest policy formulation and related decision-making procedures is taking place at global level. Policy-makers and other actors traditionally involved in forestry-related decision-making have to tackle and apply new concepts and tools, like public participation, networking and governance mechanisms. These issues are taken into consideration in the paper, using a research approach based on six explicatory–exploratory case studies in Italy. New ideas and tools are slowly entering the Italian forest policy arena as a result of international driving forces like the global dialogue on forests and the growing demand for responsible behaviour and transparency. Case studies are analyzed considering two main types of decision-making processes (one based on conventional–hierarchical/government approach and the other on innovative-networking/governance approach), the position and role of different stakeholders, the special role of public authorities, the efficacy and efficiency of (eventual) negotiation and adaptation processes. Policy change processes and policy learning processes, and their relationships, are considered. Three case studies have been selected to represent ‘unsuccessful examples’ of governance as a collective learning process, at three different scales (national, regional, local). These include the FLEGT Action Plan implementation at national level; the Rural Development Programme 2007–2013 developed by Veneto Region; and a forest camping site in the Dolomites at local level. Three other case studies have been selected as ‘encouraging examples’. These include the Strategic Framework Programme for Forests at national level, the afforestation/reforestation programme to create forests in plain areas in Lombardy at regional level and, finally, the creation of a peri-urban forest close to Venice at local level. Two main scenarios are likely in terms of changes possibly deriving from a collective learning process due to adoption of new governance approaches in the Italian forestry context: i) ‘no real changes’, which mainly occurs when national level policies and actors are involved and when a conservative approach prevails (limited or no interactions among different actors, with a dominant ‘government learning’ approach); and ii) ‘slight changes’, which usually occurs when local level policies and actors are involved, and when a tentative–innovative approach prevails, sometimes with the specific goal of improving governance, mainly based on a ‘lesson-drawing learning’ approach. Key-factors to establish more favourable conditions for starting-up or consolidating positive examples for governance as a collective learning process in Italy are presented and discussed in the final recommendations.

The Role of Individuals in Policy Change: The Case of UK Low-Energy Housing

In this paper I examine the role of individuals in the policy process, drawing on research into a number of individuals active in UK low-energy housing during the 1990s. Kingdon's notion of a policy entrepreneur is critically assessed. Policy entrepreneurs are conceived of as working very closely with government trying to influence the day-to-day operations of the policy process. Here I broaden this definition, suggesting that individuals active outside of government circles can also have a significant impact on processes of policy change. Concepts from science and technology studies, including actor-network theory and innovation niches, are used to explore the relationship between low-energy housing entrepreneurs, the housing they built, and policy change. Sociotechnical approaches are helpful in thinking about both the potential for individuals operating outside of the policy arena to influence policy, as well as the agency of materials such as low-energy housing. The policy influence of the entrepreneurs is judged to be twofold: in reframing policy discourse, and in providing a model for new low-energy housing. In conclusion, the importance of attending to the local embeddedness of the entrepreneurs is discussed.

Exogenous Shocks in Subsystem Adjustment and Policy Change: The Credit Crunch and Canadian Banking Regulation

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the impact of internationalization on the financial services policy subsystem in Canada. It uses subsystem adjustment as a concept to bring some analytical clarity to how exogenous factors like globalisation and international crises may impact existing policy regimes. Based on examination of globalisation-induced banking deregulation (1987–1991) and the current crisis of securitized banking, the paper argues that the strength of this approach is that it integrates endogenous effects of the existing subsystem in explaining policy changes in response to what are normally treated as exogenous shocks. Careful effort needs to be made to differentiate the processes of external systemic perturbations from subsystem spillovers as these two processes of adjustment and policy change can lead to different policymaking dynamics over the long term.

The terrain of health policy analysis in low and middle income countries: a review of published literature 1994-2007

This article provides the first ever review of literature analysing the health policy processes of low and middle income countries (LMICs). Based on a systematic search of published literature using two leading international databases, the article maps the terrain of work published between 1994 and 2007, in terms of policy topics, lines of inquiry and geographical base, as well as critically evaluating its strengths and weaknesses. The overall objective of the review is to provide a platform for the further development of this field of work.From an initial set of several thousand articles, only 391 were identified as relevant to the focus of inquiry. Of these, 164 were selected for detailed review because they present empirical analyses of health policy change processes within LMIC settings. Examination of these articles clearly shows that LMIC health policy analysis is still in its infancy. There are only small numbers of such analyses, whilst the diversity of policy areas, topics and analytical issues that have been addressed across a large number of country settings results in a limited depth of coverage within this body of work. In addition, the majority of articles are largely descriptive in nature, limiting understanding of policy change processes within or across countries. Nonetheless, the broad features of experience that can be identified from these articles clearly confirm the importance of integrating concern for politics, process and power into the study of health policy. By generating understanding of the factors influencing the experience and results of policy change, such analysis can inform action to strengthen future policy development and implementation. This article, finally, outlines five key actions needed to strengthen the field of health policy analysis within LMICs, including capacity development and efforts to generate systematic and coherent bodies of work underpinned by both the intent to undertake rigorous analytical work and concern to support policy change.

Between Ideas, Institutions and Interests: Analysing Third Way Welfare Reform Programmes in Germany and the United Kingdom

AbstractThis article examines the policy detail of welfare state reform agendas in two countries in which self-proclaimed ‘Third Way’ governments have been in power – Germany and the United Kingdom – in order to explore the competing influences on social policy of an ostensibly common set of ideas and contrasting institutionalised policy legacies. In so doing, it assesses the analytic utility of Bevir and Rhodes’ ideationally rooted interpretive approach against institutionally rooted claims of path dependency. It concludes that while the interpretive approach rightly stresses the need for a stronger focus on ideas as an explanation for policy change, the detail of actual Third Way policy reforms can only be understood from within the two nations’ institutionalised policy legacies. In addition, it argues that policy networks have had a considerable influence on reform trajectories too. The article advocates a closer synthesis of perspectives centred around ideas, interests and institutions in order to further our understanding of processes of policy change.

Beyond the manual: Practicing deliberative visioning in a Greek island

Deliberative visioning refers to processes of inclusive, multi-stakeholder deliberation over a desirable future. Methodologies include scenario workshops, future searches and community visioning. This paper looks critically at the assumptions of deliberative visioning benefiting from a case study in Greece. We argue that there are fundamental choices to be made concerning how to frame the process, who to invite and how to facilitate it. These are not just a matter of following manuals' good practice guidance. We emphasize the need for epistemological and methodological awareness of: the assumptions which frame DV itself; the assumptions of the users of DV; and the situation in which DV is deployed. We find that whereas visioning motivates participants to work together and provides a good framework to systematize discussion, it is not necessarily effective for developing systemic perspectives and plan actions. This is especially true in contexts such as that of our case study, where there is lack of a collaborative culture and there are insufficient mechanisms that integrate effectively a deliberative process with other processes of policy or social change.

Introduction: Understanding Public Policy through Its Instruments—From the Nature of Instruments to the Sociology of Public Policy Instrumentation

Public policy instrumentation and its choice of tools and modes of operation are treated either as a kind of evidence (governing means making regulations, taxing, entering into contracts, communicating, etc.) or as if the questions it raises (the properties of instruments, justifications for choosing them, their applicability, etc.) are part of a rationality of methods without any autonomous meaning. This paper aims to explain the significance of a political sociology approach to public policy instruments in accounting for processes of public policy change: (1) public policy instrumentation is a major issue in public policy, since it reveals a (fairly explicit) theorization of the relationship between the governing and the governed: every instrument constitutes a condensed form of knowledge about social control and ways of exercising it; and (2) instruments at work are not neutral devices: they produce specific effects, independently of the objective pursued (the aims ascribed to them), which structure public policy according to their own logic.

Mapping Processes of Policy Change in Contemporary European Political Economies: The Irish Case

This article engages with debates about the trajectory of contemporary European political economies, emphasising in particular the need to map processes of policy change over time (by placing contemporary developments in historical perspective) and space (by considering a variety of policy areas). The article then explores these issues with respect to the Irish case. Placing more recent developments within historical perspective, it argues that the trajectory of the Irish state is not best characterised in terms of a shift from one state form (the ‘activist state’) to another (‘the competition state’). Rather, the path of Irish economic and social policy has been both highly complex and (at times) contradictory, so that change is best characterised in terms of the ebb and flow of tendencies and counter-tendencies rather than in terms of a shift between state forms.

Timing and sequence in agenda-setting and policy change: a comparative study of lawn care pesticide politics in Canada and the US

Research on agenda-setting often requires long time frames to illustrate and explain the rise and fall of issues on agendas and the punctuated nature of policy change. But less common are studies which treat time itself as a variable that helps to explain the particular trajectory of a policy issue or set of issues. To appreciate the importance of timing, we must examine agenda-setting and policy change processes around similar issues in two contexts where the timing and sequence of key events and strategies differ. This paper examines differences in agenda-setting and policy change around the issue of lawn care pesticides in the United States and Canada. I argue that the timing and sequencing of events, actor mobilization, and venue shifts significantly shaped the divergent paths of the conflicts. The relative mobilization of competing advocacy groups at the start of the campaigns, and successful venue shifts at key moments in the conflicts, led to different policy outcomes in the two cases.

The interface of policy research and the policy development process: challenges posed to the forestry community

Researchers are increasingly being forced to consider how their research findings can result in tangible impacts thereby presenting a considerable challenge to those seeking to achieve those impacts as a consequence of policy changes. The policy change process is subject to a bewildering array of social, economic and political influences, and policy decisions are taken largely independently from the actions of scientists and research institutes. The link between research and policy is often diffuse, and direct linkages between research and policychange are rare. To simply assume that conducting research on policies relating to forests and disseminating the findings will lead to changes in the policies themselves is unrealistically naive and grossly overestimates the role of knowledge acquisition in policy change processes. A role exists nevertheless. This paper examines theories and concepts that describe research's influence on policy, links these with literature and empirical findings on diffusion of innovations and technology transfer and concludes by presenting proven strategies to enhance the uptake and use of research generally and particularly inpolicyprocesses.

The Enlightenment Function and Dimensions of Time: Evolutionary Theory and Limits of Privatisation in British Trunk Roads Policy

The evolutionary model provides important insights into the causal mechanisms of policy change. This works particularly through the notion that the introduction and success or failure of new ideas is a key element in instigating these policy change processes. The survival of an idea is also dependent on key temporal and spatial factors. An idea therefore urgently requires a method of propagation in order to reproduce itself. One means of this idea transmission is through the ‘enlightenment function’, whereby an effective policy network may gradually alter the assumptions and idea ‘images' of policy makers over time. For example, the interrelationships between ideas, established epistemic communities and time emerge as key variables in determining the enlightenment function in implementation arenas. Time emerges as a vital multi-dimensional independent variable, and in one crucial dimension approximates with a state of readiness as outlined in Vickers' appreciative system. The article employs the case study of the limits of the privatisation idea in British trunk roads policy, and concludes that, even in seeking stability, actors tend to generate unpredictable change.

From research policy to the governance of research? A theoretical framework and some empirical conclusions

Culture’ and ‘change’ are not words typically yoked together in social science. Indeed, the whole point of explanatory recourse to culture is to account for permanencies. Nonetheless, subject to certain conceptual precautions, middle range cultural analysis can work in conjunction with mainstream political science to clarify processes of policy change. The paper illustrates this by focusing on the case of European research policies and practices. After presenting a conceptual framework designed to bring together cultural analysis and policy science, the paper elaborates, on the basis of the framework, a theoretical scheme for the analysis of research policy. It then reports on some empirical findings from recent research and assesses the extent to which they validate the conceptual and theoretical framework. Finally, the paper offers some conclusions about the scale and innovative nature of policy change in contemporary European polities.

Policy Subsystem Configurations and Policy Change: Operationalizing the Postpositivist Analysis of the Politics of the Policy process

Over the past two decades thinking about the role of politics in the policy process has taken several different shapes. Analysts in the “positivist” school of policy analysis have tended to use restricted notions of politics in their search for policy determinants or causes of policy change. This approach can be contrasted usefully with “postpositivist” analyses, which emphasize the role played by policy discourses in the policy process. This article discusses the manner in which policy networks and policy communities integrate ideas and interests in public policymaking and provide an opportunity to overcome the positivist/post‐positivist conceptual dichotomy. It proposes a model setting out how different subsystem configurations relate to paradigmatic and intraparadigmatic processes of policy change. The paper suggests that the identification of the nature of the policy subsystem in a given policy sector reveals a great deal about its propensity to respond to changes in ideas and interests and is therefore a good indicator of the likely effect “politics,” in either the restrictive or broad sense of the term, will have on policymaking.

A Comparison of Three Emerging Theories of the Policy Process

In an earlier review of political theories of the policy process, Sabatier (1991) challenged political scientists and policy scholars to improve theoretical understanding of policy processes. This essay responds by comparing and building upon three emerging theoretical frameworks: Sabatier's advocacy coalitions framework (ACF), institutional rational choice (IRC), and Moe's political theory of bureaucracy, which he calls the politics of structural choice (SC). The frameworks are compared using six criteria: (1) the bound aries of inquiry; (2) the model of the individual; (3) the roles of informa tion and beliefs in decision making and strategy; (4) the nature and role of groups; (5) the concept of levels of action; and (6) the ability to explain action at various stages of the policy process. Comparison reveals that each framework has promising components, but each remains short of provid ing a full explanation of the processes of policy formation and change. Directions for future theory development and empirical examination are discussed.