State Policy Process Research Articles

Complexity of policy making in pandemic crisis: Harmonizing national policy with global prevention pandemic policy

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the complexity of policy making in the pandemic crisis in the current situation. How do the all countries make “trial and error” policy model in dealing with the dynamic changing environment. The administrative state's exclusive ability to guide and manage public policy and administration is increasingly being challenged in both developing and developed countries. The research approach is content review of official documents and online news from each continent, which is defined by a few nations, in order to get a broad image of how complicated policymaking is. This call identifies a slew of regional and global governance actors with sway over state administrative and policy decisions. The findings are there has been a proliferation of institutional procedures and policy-making mechanisms and beyond but frequently conflicting with conventional state policy processes of the government policy delivery. Upcoming Events Formal and informal institutions and actors, often in conjunction with national public administrations, but more often on their own, are at the heart of these policy processes. Multi-stakeholder ventures, global public-private partnerships, and global commissions are all examples of this.

Canadian government policy innovation labs: An experimental turn in policy work?

AbstractGovernments across the globe are searching for new methods to apply to policy work. New Public Governance (NPG) suggests the state's policy process has become more accessible to a broader range of policy actors including non‐state ones. Policy innovation labs speak to this turn to broadening inputs and to methodological experimentation. The focus of this article is to provide an overview of Canadian government policy innovation labs (GPILs) operating in this relatively new space. Despite the ascent of GPILs, they remain, especially in the Canadian context, much understudied. Exploring a select number of Canadian government policy labs operating at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, we provide some insights into their work.

Disclosing Influence: Hydraulic fracturing, interest groups, and state policy processes in the United States

This paper examines copy-and-paste regulating in hydraulic fracturing (HF) fluid disclosure regulation across US states. Using text analysis, cluster analysis and document coding, we compare HF regulations of twenty-nine states and two “model bills” drafted by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF, an environmental NGO). In contrast to recent studies that have documented ALEC’s widespread influence across policy domains, we find limited evidence of ALEC influence in HF fluid disclosure regulations. Instead, elements of the EDF bill are more prevalent across state regulations. Yet, text similarity scores between states are higher than similarity scores between states and the EDF bill. In particular, Colorado and to a lesser extent Pennsylvania functioned as leader states for other states to follow. This indicates that state-to-state communication was a more influential channel of policy diffusion than interest group model bills in this instance. Future research should better examine processes of information sharing amongst state oil and gas regulators as regulatory text is but one channel of policy diffusion. The cluster analysis also reveals that contiguous states, often within the same shale basins, frequently have different regulations. This finding calls for a reconsideration of the current state-led environmental regulatory framework for HF, which has resulted in a patchwork of regulations across the US. Finally, through the use of novel text analysis tools, this paper adds methodological diversity to the study of policy diffusion within energy policy.

Examining the Washington State Breastfeeding-Friendly Policy Development Process Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework.

Objectives Breastfeeding promotion is increasingly recognized as a key public health strategy. Policies can promote breastfeeding by creating supportive environments and addressing challenges. In 2014, the Washington State legislature considered bills to create a voluntary recognition system for breastfeeding-friendly hospitals, clinics, worksites and childcare settings. These Breastfeeding-Friendly Washington (BFW) bills (SB 6298 and HB 2329) did not pass. Methods The purpose of this case study was to analyze the policy development process for the BFW bills using the Advocacy Coalition Framework. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in the state policy process, and document review. We used thematic analysis to identify deductive and inductive themes. Results Though all policy actors indicated general support for breastfeeding, two main coalitions (proponents and opponents) diverged in their support of the BFW bills as policy solutions to address barriers to breastfeeding. We conducted 29 interviews with mainly bill proponents, and 54 documents confirmed data about bill opponents. Proponents supported the bills given increasingly strong evidence of breastfeeding's benefits and that public policy could address environmental challenges to breastfeeding. Opponents saw the bills as government overreach into the private matter of choosing to breastfeed. Opposition to the bills came late in the session, and proponents felt opponents' messaging misconstrued the intent of the legislation. Conclusions for Practice Key learnings for developing breastfeeding-friendly state policies include analyzing differences between proponents' and opponents' beliefs, framing advocacy messages beyond individuals and health, expanding the coalition outside of traditional health entities, and anticipating the opposition.

GLOBAL PUBLIC POLICY AND TRANSNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION

There has been a proliferation of administrative practices and processes of policy‐making and policy delivery beyond but often overlapping with traditional nation state policy processes. New formal and informal institutions and actors are behind these policy processes, often in cooperation with national public administrations but sometimes quite independently from them. These ‘multi‐stakeholder initiatives’, ‘global public–private partnerships’ and ‘global commissions’ are creating or delivering global policies even though the geographic pattern of policy action can vary considerably. Implementation may occur at (trans)national or local levels in different regions more or less contemporaneously, or also in problem contexts that are cross‐border and co‐jurisdictional, hence our use of the term ‘transnational administration’. Traditional policy and public administration studies have tended to undertake analysis of the capacity of public sector hierarchies to globalize national policies rather than to investigate transnational policy‐making above and beyond the state. This article extends the ambit of public administration and policy studies into what has traditionally been considered the realm of International Relations scholarship to identify and map new modes of global (public) policy and transnational administration and prospects for ongoing conceptualization.

Identifying motivators for state-pastoralist dialogue: Exploring the relationships between livestock services, self-organisation and conflict in Nigeria's pastoralist Fulani

Historical tensions between Nigeria's pastoralist Fulani and settled indigenous farmers have intensified in recent years, with dwindling natural resources and land availability greatly contributing to the ongoing, escalating conflict in the north of the country. The urgent requirement to engage with, rather than isolate, Nigeria's Fulani from various socioeconomic and environmental management strategies is fundamental to peace and agricultural productivity in the region. This requires a greater understanding of formal and informal governance mechanisms and their relative impact on the Fulani. This study examines the existing and potential roles of various actors within the transhumant Fulani community of the Kachia Grazing Reserve in Nigeria's Kaduna State, triangulated with views from external public and private sector representatives. The findings reveal three main spheres of governance that intertwine and impact on the largely self-organising Fulani: religious or customary laws overseen by the imams, ‘informal’ laws of the community overseen by Fulani civil leaders and the ‘formal’ laws outlined in the official policies of the state. In addition, peripheral entities such as Fulani co-operatives, non-governmental organisations and the private sector can have considerable influence. The health and husbandry of livestock was identified as a key motivator for successful self-governance, integral to Fulani daily life. Understanding and appreciating the self-governance structures of the Fulani, particularly given their current isolation from formal state policy processes, can help identify motivators and opportunities for dialogue between the Fulani and various external actors. Improved veterinary service provision and livestock extension services are potentially powerful entry points for both the public and private sectors alike.

Perceived impact and feasibility of strategies to improve access to healthy foods in Washington State, USA.

The present study measured the perceived impact and political and implementation feasibility of state-level policy strategies related to increasing access to healthy foods and limiting unhealthy foods. Potential state-level policy strategies to improve access to healthy foods were identified through a review of evidence-based literature and policy recommendations. Respondents rated the perceived impact and political and implementation feasibility of each policy on a five-point scale using online surveys. Washington State policy process. Forty-nine content experts (national researchers and subject experts), forty policy experts (state elected officials or their staff, gubernatorial or legislative policy analysts) and forty-five other stakeholders (state-level advocates, programme administrators, food producers). In aggregate, respondents rated policy impact and implementation feasibility higher than political feasibility. Policy experts rated policy strategies as less politically feasible compared with content experts (P < 0·02) or other stakeholders (P < 0·001). Eight policy strategies were rated above the median for impact and political and implementation feasibility. These included policies related to nutrition standards in schools and child-care facilities, food distribution systems, urban planning projects, water availability, joint use agreements and breast-feeding supports. Although they may be perceived as potentially impactful, some policies will be more difficult to enact than others. Information about the potential feasibility of policies to improve access to healthy foods can be used to focus limited policy process resources on strategies with the highest potential for enactment, implementation and impact.

The Influence of Lobbying Activityin State Legislatures: Evidence from Wisconsin

This study attempts to assess the degree of influence interest groups can exert on the state policy process, specifically via their lobbying activities. The analysis uses data from the 2005–06 Wisconsin Legislative Session to assess the association between lobbying activity and legislative outcomes in one state legislature. The study finds a direct association between lobbying activities and bill outcomes, while also exploring the potential influences of both key political actors and public attention. Public attention is found to reduce the effects of lobbying efforts, suggesting that lobbying is most effective when focused on less salient issues.

The CNN effect reconsidered (again): problematizing ICT and global governance in the CNN effect research agenda

Early CNN effect research considered policy effects associated with cumbersome satellite uplinks of limited capacity. Today, nearly ubiquitous mobile telephony and highly portable satellite uplinks enable high-speed data transmission, including voice and video streaming, from most remote locations. Also, important geopolitical realignments have occurred since the end of the Cold War. The US is now challenged by new economic and cultural powerhouses, and by the rise of networked nonstate actors. It is not simply a matter of realignment among nation-states, as the original CNN effects research noted, but also a realignment between the type, scope and scale of actors involved in global governance. Rather than confining the argument to a consideration of media effects on state policy processes, this article argues that important technological and political developments call for a new research path, one that centers on the relationship between governance and the nature of a given information environment.

A Theoretical Debate and Strategy to Link Structure and Agency in Policy Process Studies: A Network Perspective

Questions of policy formation/implementation are often translated into the language of power and policy process is little doubt a political issue rather than a technical issue. The studies of policy process are used to apply either structural or individual perspective to explain power distribution in policy formation/implementation and have also led to the methodological puzzle of that what the real policy process is or how it does be consisted. This paper attempts to review the previous works and provide a suitable framework to link structural and individual perspectives in the study of state policy process. Traditional state policy process approaches such as Marxist theory, Pluralist approach, Elites approach and Corporatism approach are discussed to demonstrate the methodological controversy of different analytical levels. In order to grasp more comprehensive understanding of policy process, the interests and interactions of the political actors, how the institutional rules of game, the distribution of political resources and power construct their choices and political judgement should be considered in the research framework. It can be argued that policy network approach (or network perspective) can be seen as an appropriate strategy to combine microscopic and macroscopic analysis of policy process.

The School-to-College Transition in the Context of Educational Reform: Student Retention and the State Policy Process

This study examines the impact of state-level educational reform in Kentucky on college student retention. By tracking the educational progress of students who graduated from high school in a large school district and who subsequently enrolled in a research university in the same metropolitan area, the study reveals that the accountability measures and policy tools embedded in the educational reform effort contribute little to the prediction of student retention. The analysis questions the viability of state-driven reforms to improve the retention of students transitioning from high school to college in Kentucky and suggests that high schools and colleges may be able to improve student retention through the development of student information systems that are based on concept of “supply chain management.”

Laying Down the Law? Interest Group Influence on State Adoption of Animal Cruelty Felony Laws

Since the late 1960s, the number and types of organized interest groups working at the state level have increased dramatically, but research shows that traditional organized interest groups, such as business and labor unions, are still the most influential in state policymaking (Thomas and Hrebenar 1996). Less is known, however, about the influence of non‐economically focused interest groups in the state policy process. Using pooled cross‐sectional data from the American states, I explore the effect that nontraditional organized interests can have on state policy. Specifically, I examine the influence of the Humane Society of the United States on state adoption of animal cruelty felony laws. Although the Humane Society is not one of the traditional groups expected to have a significant influence in state policymaking, my results suggest that it has played a significant role. However, I also find that the Humane Society's influence on the stringency of these laws is less pronounced.

Interest group conflict, alliances, and opposition: Evidence from three states

Despite a recent surge in attention to the role of private interests in American public policy-making, there is little systematic empirical research on the nature of interest group systems. This article analyzes a new set of survey data in an attempt to illuminate patterns of interaction among groups and between groups and other actors in the American states. The results indicate the following: (1) Conflict is common in many state policy domains. (2) Most state interest groups do not operate in relative isolation. (3) Citizen groups have injected uncertainty and conflict into the state policy process. (4) Many state policy fights are characterized by pitched conflict among citizen groups. Ultimately, the data shed light on a number of questions concerning the scope and nature of interest group conflict and cooperation in the states.

Pathways of Representation: A Causal Analysis of Public Opinion-Policy Linkages

Theory: Altemative theories of the linkage process between mass policy preferences and public policies are tested empirically. Hypotheses: Opinion-policy linkage may arise because mass preferences drive the policy process, elite preferences drive the process, or because of a shared-preferences, reciprocal influence process. Policy linkage may also be facilitated by higher voter mobilization and party competition. Methods: A multiple-equation model of the opinion-policy process in the United States is tested with two-stage least squares regression. Results: The state policy process is best explained by an opinion-sharing, reciprocal influence model. Shared partisanship, party competition, and voter mobilization enhance the linkage process in theoretically anticipated ways.

Faculty and the State Policy Process

Over the past decade, state policymaking in higher education has changed dramatically. Demographic shifts leading to declining enrollments in many states, fiscal stress forcing retrenchment, public cries for accountability, and the changing educational demands of today's students of all ages have worked together to shift policy power away from traditional academic arenas and into political ones. Decisions once made on campus by deans and academic vice-presidents are increasingly made at the statehouse by higher education agency staff and legislative budget analysts [5, p. 29]. The shift in power is compounded by the more centralized financing arrangements within state governments, which have placed education in more direct resource competition with other public sector services [6, p. 76]. Faculty collective bargaining has facilitated the centralization of personnel and salary decisions [1, p. 163]. Similarly, the expanding size and scope of statewide higher education agencies has resulted in a more centralized decision-making structure within the higher education community itself [10, p. 52]. Power, once spread among multiple actors in higher education policy, has gravitated into fewer and fewer hands. With these trends expected to accelerate in the near future, it is reasonable to assume that power in higher education will continue its shift from campus to statehouse. Apart from the obvious implications this has for institutional autonomy, it also has produced a subtle but significant change in the faculty role

Faculty and the State Policy Process: The Uses and Limits of Advisory Committees

Faculty and the State Policy Process: The Uses and Limits of Advisory Committees