Window Of Opportunity For Change Research Articles

Dreaming of a Bright Future: Statistics, Disaster, and the Birth of Energopolitics in 1930s Chile.

In 1939, directly after the worst earthquake in the country's history, the Chilean state began implementing an electrification program. This plan shaped energy goals for years to come and defined the interconnected grid that dominates the country's energy infrastructure today. Based on extensive archival work, this article describes the birth of energopolitics in the country, using technology sociologist Michel Callon's notion of "interessement" to describe the strategies of a group of engineers who acted as system builders. Their four main strategies were embracing technological futurisms, forging heterogeneous networks, articulating and mobilizing knowledge, and using crises as windows of opportunity for change. The article shows not only the historical impact of past energy choices on today's world but also that current challenges to energy transitions are not without precedent. Using a sociological framework to tell this story allows us to highlight the mechanisms through which energy systems can change.

Gradually and then suddenly: the effects of Russia’s attacks on the evolution of cybersecurity policy in Lithuania

ABSTRACT This article examines how public policy, governance and institutional structures have been established and transformed in response to cyberattacks attributed to Russia that focused political attention in Lithuania. It argues that, despite the growing number of cyberattacks, political and institutional change has initially been slow and it has taken a decade to establish an adequate legal and institutional framework. The reasons for such a slow change are analysed, highlighting limited capacity (lack of understanding of cybersecurity by policy-makers and the lack of attention and other resources allocated to it), institutional fragmentation and coordination problems. It was only after Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2014 that cybersecurity policy started to be seen through the prism of national security and parliamentary elections created a window of opportunity for change, which resulted in significant policy transformation in 2017–2018. Interestingly, since then it remained relatively stable, even after Russia’s large scale war against Ukraine in 2022, which had only led to operational cybersecurity policy changes in Lithuania. The article contributes to the debates on the role of external shocks on policy change and the mediating factors which can slow down or facilitate change.

“Seven Weeks Is Not a Lot of Time”: Temporal Work and Institutional Change in Australian Football

Recognizing the importance of timing in efforts to drive institutional change, this study examined how actors engage in “temporal institutional work” in their attempts to disrupt inequitable institutions in sport. A qualitative case study was conducted on football (soccer) in Australia wherein significant gender equity reforms have been enacted. The findings revealed how the temporal activities of entraining (e.g., capitalizing on external interventions), constructing urgency (e.g., through advocacy), and enacting momentum (e.g., through consensus-based leadership) allowed actors to exploit a time-sensitive window of opportunity for change, quickly foster a perception of irreversibility that structural change would occur, and generate synchronicity with broader reforms. Inspired by the breakthroughs in Australian football, this research highlights temporal-based strategies for combating gender inequity in sport. Theoretically, this study extends research on institutional work in sport by illuminating the key role that timing norms play during institutional change.

Multi‐Level Governance Feedback and Health Care in Italy in the Aftermath of Covid‐19

At the crossroads of EU studies and public policy analysis, a vast literature identifies global crises as one of the main triggers of change. The present article provides a test of this hypothesis in the case of health care in the aftermath of the pandemic crisis that hit Europe between 2020 and 2022. We use Italy as an extreme case, where both the magnitude of the Covid-19 outbreak and the effect of the pre-existent domestic cost-cutting strategy potentially opened a large window of opportunity for change. Through the lenses of historical institutionalism, we aim to shed light on policy change in multi-level health governance systems. Evidence collected through semi-structured interviews, triangulated with secondary sources, proves that the governance of health care in Italy has experienced no paradigmatic change. We show that “governance feedbacks” have reinforced pre-existing dynamics and inhibited more radical forms of change.

What Was the Norm Is No Longer the Norm: Capturing Socio-Ecological Histories of Flood Resilience in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area through Archival News Analysis

Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, an unglaciated region defined by steep river valley systems, has been plagued by chronic flooding in part due to Euro-American agricultural practices and anthropogenic climate change. The region, which has played a central role in environmental knowledge production, has a storied history of resilience practices and flood experience. To capture histories of Driftless Area flood experience and underlying socio-ecological dynamics, we performed a qualitative analysis of regional news archives from 1866 to present on flood trends, experiences, and responses. Our analysis identified hazard response trends mediated by socio-ecological factors including crisis-induced windows of opportunity for change, conflicts over structural and nonstructural responses to flooding, and psychological dimensions of environmental crises. Finally, our analysis noted the key role of community flood knowledge in producing shifts toward enhanced resilience, suggesting the need for empowering flood response planning at the community scale.

Post-COVID-19 visions: A new work–life model

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has amplified concerns about gender equity, access to health services, and extractive rather than regenerative systems. In the spring and fall of 2020, a two-phase exploratory survey was conducted to inquire about people’s desires for the future and reflections on the pandemic. Respondents to the survey, more than two-thirds of whom were women, and more than 85 percent having earned a bachelor’s degree or higher, reported feelings of isolation and intensification in remote work, stress in caring for children restricted to their homes while attending virtual schooling, and societal inequities in the health system. The survey also identified that respondents expressed great resilience and optimism about the future. There is a window of opportunity for change after a disaster takes place, and respondents hope to take advantage of this time to emerge from the pandemic in a position to not only survive but flourish. This article describes the results of the surveys and makes recommendations for using this window of opportunity to address the concerns of access to healthcare and gender equity to build a more sustainable world.

Shifting worlds of father politics? Comparing path-departing change in paternity and parental leave policy in Germany and the UK

ABSTRACTHow families balance employment and the care of young children has become a focus of dynamic policy change in many high-income countries since the 1990s. While there has been a broad shift across the OECD away from male-breadwinner model work-family policy regimes, there is much variation in the extent to which policies targeted at fathers have been part of these changes. Examining this variation, this article compares two cases which both represent ‘late path shifters’ away from the male-breadwinner family model, yet whose trajectory in terms of ‘father politics’ are very different: Germany, which has introduced well-remunerated, non-transferable periods of leave for fathers, and the UK, where leave policy has remained overwhelmingly focused on mothers. This article seeks to explain these different trajectories through an analysis of the political role of ideas in the two processes of reform. Drawing on documentary analysis and interviews with policymakers, it argues that a substantial shift in ideas about the role of fathers underpinned the reforms in Germany, while no such shift took place in the UK. This difference is explained with reference to political conditions, which created similar but different windows of opportunity for change, and the impact of existing policy legacies.

COVID-19 as a Harbinger of Transforming Infrastructure Resilience

The COVID-19 pandemic has shocked infrastructure systems in unanticipated ways. Seemingly in the course of weeks, our demands for many basic and critical services have radically shifted. With expected long-term effects (i.e., years), COVID-19 is going to have profound impacts on every facet of infrastructure systems, and will shock these systems very differently than the hazards that we often focus on, such as extreme events, disrepair, and terrorist attacks. At the beginning of this pandemic, infrastructure managers are scrambling to respond to changes in demand, and understand what the long-term effects are for how they operate and maintain their systems. We contend that COVID-19 is revealing several important limitations to how we approach and manage our infrastructure, that must be acknowledged and addressed as the pandemic persists, and in a future increasingly characterized by accelerating and increasingly uncertain conditions. These limitations are how i) we prepare for concurrent hazards, ii) frame criticality based on traditional infrastructure sectors and not human capabilities, iii) we emphasize efficiency at a cost to resilience, and iv) leadership is largely focused on stable conditions. Each of these challenges represents a call for major rethinking for how we approach infrastructure, and COVID-19 presents a window of opportunity for change.

The governance of Peruvian energy transitions: Path dependence, alternative ideas and change in national hydropower expansion

Drawing from work on governance, this article stresses the role of different contexts for energy transitions and focuses on the particular conditions in expanding energy systems. The definition of expanding energy systems is introduced to avoid short-hand classifications such as developed and developing countries, and instead to differentiate based on the characteristics of the energy system itself. Furthermore, this article explores the implications of energy expansion for change and continuity in energy systems using the example of large-scale hydropower development in the Marañón River, Peru. Based on qualitative social research, this article shows that the analysed expansion of hydropower relies on the consolidated extractivist development model and stands for continuity; however, it also evinces that a diverse opposition of state authorities and civil society is willing to take an active part in decisions on the future energy system causing change. The article concludes that the expansion of energy generation is a window of opportunity for change in energy systems and provides suggestions on how to rethink governance. Finally, the article recommends further advancing the conceptualisation of transitions in expanding energy systems.

Disasters as an opportunity for improved environmental conditions

This paper presents case studies where disasters provided a window of opportunity for change that included social action with (potentially) positive effects on the environment. The research literature was screened for empirical cases in support of societal changes with a focus on environmental issues, and a more in-depth case study of the extensive tree felling after the storm Gudrun in Sweden 2005 was also conducted. The case study is explored through available research as well as “grey” literature to identify societal actions taken after the storm that had – or not – an effect on environmental conditions. With the help of the framework presented by Birkmann et al. (2010), the study aims to characterise the nature of these anthropic changes. The framework was modified to focus specifically on societal actions implemented because of an “open window”, and the environmental effects of the actions. This enabled identifying changes with a positive/negative and intended/unintended effect on the environment, as well as determining if a change was based on formal or informal decisions. Several cases identified in the literature provide empirical support for the theory that disasters can generate a window of opportunity for positive environmental change. However, open windows are not always exploited, as is apparent in the case of the storm Gudrun.

Symbolic Power in Development Politics: Can “Fragile States” Fight with Numbers?

The fragile states agenda has recently converged with the so-called culture of measuring for results, creating standards often seen by critics as donor driven. The newly established Sustainable Development Goals now invite a data revolution that can see yet more intense practices of quantification. Nevertheless, this article argues such practices can be widening windows of opportunity for change. It looks at the g7+ group of self-labeled fragile states and its tools for self-measurement. These tools closely resemble mainstream quantification, but also bring key contributions. In fact, direct opposition on the part of fragile states is perhaps as possible as it once was for the so-called Third World; on the other hand, the article suggests subtle power can perhaps be countered by subtle change.

Социальная Динамика: Российский Контекст. Преодоление Cоциальной Несправедливости (Social Dynamics: Russian Context. Overcoming of the Social Injustice)

Russian Abstract: Книга является одним из удачных опытов междисциплинарного анализа феномена социальной несправедливости в современном российском обществе, позволяющего увидеть новый поворот в развитии социальной системы и новые возможности для ее развития. Поскольку «динамика насилия и несправедливости усиливается в зонах флуктуации, изменяя темпоральность системы, что увеличивает ее неоднородность и, в конечном итоге, разрывает социальную ткань, формируя новые пространства, «открывая окна возможностей» для проведения изменений», авторами выбран инструментарий, включающий сценарный подход и учитывающий социальную динамику. Показано, что процессы формирования нового порядка, прорастания принципиально новой социальной системы воспринимается социумом и существующей системой управления неоднозначно. Новые социальные факторы – параметры порядка, возникающие спонтанно в обществе, начинают подавляться другими факторами, известными как параметры управления. Это противостояние порождает всплески несправедливости, отражая непростую социальную динамику развития общества. Книга рассчитана на широкий круг читателей – преподавателей, студентов, научных работников, лидеров организаций гражданского общества, предпринимателей инновационного типа, государственных служащих и специалистов, работающих в органах власти, а также всех граждан, заинтересованных в развитии России. English Abstract: The book is one of the most successful experiments, interdisciplinary analysis of the phenomenon of social injustice in modern Russian society, allows you to see a new twist in the social system and development of new opportunities its development. Since the of violence and injustice is enhanced in the areas of fluctuations, changing the temporality of the system, which increases its heterogeneity and, ultimately tearing the social fabric, creating new spaces, opening the window of opportunity for change, the authors selected tools, including scenario-based approach which takes into account the social dynamics. The authors have shown that the formation of a new order, the germination of a fundamentally new social system is perceived by society and the existing control system is ambiguous. New social factors - the order parameters arising spontaneously in society begin to be suppressed by other factors, known as control parameters. This confrontation generates bursts of injustice, reflecting the difficult social dynamics of society. The book is designed a wide range of readers - teachers, students, academics, leaders of civil society organizations, entrepreneurs of innovative type, civil servants and professionals working in the government, and all citizens interested in the development of Russia.

What Happens After the Storm? Investigating Three Conditions Under Which Local Governments Change Integrity Policy After Scandals

Integrity violations often generate political scandals, but what conditions determine whether this eventually leads to the improvement of integrity measures and policies? This article analyzes integrity scandals of 17 Dutch municipalities in the period 2006–2010 using qualitative comparative analysis. Three conditions are taken into consideration: media attention, presence of external audits, and involvement of civil servants in the violation. First, the results describe that in nearly half the cases nothing changed at all after a scandal. Second, this study explains why integrity policies changed—or remain the same. The analysis shows that changes are more likely when other civil servants are involved in a scandal and that the presence of an external audit helps to create a window of opportunity for change. On the other hand, more intense media coverage was not a sufficient condition for change in integrity policy. The study concludes that a scandal alone is not enough to create a window of opportunity for change, but that particular conditions need to be present—most notably external audits and involvement of other civil servants in the violation.

Identifying Legal, Ecological and Governance Obstacles, and Opportunities for Adapting to Climate Change

Current governance of regional scale water management systems in the United States has not placed them on a path toward sustainability, as conflict and gridlock characterize the social arena and ecosystem services continue to erode. Changing climate may continue this trajectory, but it also provides a catalyst for renewal of ecosystems and a window of opportunity for change in institutions. Resilience provides a bridging concept that predicts that change in ecological and social systems is often dramatic, abrupt, and surprising. Adapting to the uncertainty of climate driven change must be done in a manner perceived as legitimate by the participants in a democratic society. Adaptation must begin with the current hierarchical and fragmented social-ecological system as a baseline from which new approaches must be applied. Achieving a level of integration between ecological concepts and governance requires a dialogue across multiple disciplines, including ecologists with expertise in ecological resilience, hydrologists and climate experts, with social scientists and legal scholars. Criteria and models that link ecological dynamics with policies in complex, multi-jurisdictional water basins with adaptive management and governance frameworks may move these social-ecological systems toward greater sustainability.

How Multilevel Societal Learning Processes Facilitate Transformative Change: A Comparative Case Study Analysis on Flood Management

Sustainable resources management requires a major transformation of existing resource governance and management systems. These have evolved over a long time under an unsustainable management paradigm, e.g., the transformation from the traditionally prevailing technocratic flood protection toward the holistic integrated flood management approach. We analyzed such transformative changes using three case studies in Europe with a long history of severe flooding: the Hungarian Tisza and the German and Dutch Rhine. A framework based on societal learning and on an evolutionary understanding of societal change was applied to identify drivers and barriers for change. Results confirmed the importance of informal learning and actor networks and their connection to formal policy processes. Enhancing a society's capacity to adapt is a long-term process that evolves over decades, and in this case, was punctuated by disastrous flood events that promoted windows of opportunity for change.

Rebuilding fish stocks and changing fisheries management, a major challenge for the Common Fisheries Policy reform in Europe

In the European Union (EU), subsidies to the fishing industry and lack of compliance and enforcement of fishing regulations have led to a chronic overcapacity and a general decline of commercial fish stocks. The entire fisheries sector (extractive fishing, fish canning and commercialization subsectors) is still affected, with all directly and indirectly employed people being impacted by the overfishing problem. However, fish populations could strongly increase and generate more economic output if they were left for only a few years under less fishing pressure. The papers published in this Special Issue are the products of recent research conducted by European fisheries scientists, economists, and lawyers. A window of opportunity for change is currently open under the current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform. This Special Issue is an attempt to stimulate the debate by providing new findings and formulating new proposals to rebuild stocks, strengthen ecosystems resilience and better manage EU fisheries. The Special Issue consists of eight papers dealing with relevant biological and economic aspects of the management of European fisheries. Together these papers show that the EU fish stocks are under high fishing pressure and that their recovery will generate not only environmental or ecosystem benefits but also greater profitability for the fisheries sector.

Health Care Policy for Better or for Worse? Examining NHS Reforms During Times of Economic Crisis versus Relative Stability

AbstractEconomic crises are said to challenge welfare states by forcing them to cut expenditure by pursuing reforms aimed at cost containment and efficiency enhancing strategies. The oil crises of the 1970s and early 1980s, the global financial crisis of the early 1990s, and those of the 2000s marked acute economic phases rooted within a larger period of austerity politics in which welfare states have been observed to undergo major changes. However, the question has yet to be posed as to whether decisions affecting health care policy during acute economic crises are indeed fundamentally different than what can normally be observed over the longer period of cost containment policy. Moreover, where policy differences do exist between economic periods, are these differences consistent over time and across health care systems? To answer these questions we examine changes in regulation over the past four decades for two cases of National Health Services (NHS): England and Italy. More specifically, we examine the underlying causes for reforms in order to identify whether economic crises versus ‘system‐specific deficits’ (i.e. those deficits or sources for inefficiency lodged within the health care system itself) are the true causes for motivating change in and across NHS systems. Our findings establish that while acute economic crises create windows of opportunity for change, it is the interaction of system‐specific deficits and the role of ideas and political factors that largely condition the content and timing of reforms. Regarding the nature of reforms passed, our findings reveal consistency over time and across health care systems in the types of regulatory measures adopted and advanced.

Toothfish crises, actor diversity and the emergence of compliance mechanisms in the Southern Ocean

Illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing is a challenging form of non-compliance in many marine ecosystems. IUU fishing has attracted substantial political attention in the Southern Ocean, where a series of crises created windows of opportunity for change. A crises-response framework was used for examining these dynamics between 1995 and 2009. Crises were defined in relation to their perceived threat, decision time and surprise. Published material was combined with the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLRs) expert interviews, to evaluate changing perceptions of IUU fishing and corresponding actions. A first crisis led to an increased use of informal shortcuts and a concentration of power. A second crisis created windows of opportunities for policy entrepreneurs and stimulated policy innovation. A third crisis led to the implementation of existing contingency plans. These responses were consistent with predictions from the crisis-response framework used. The series of crises threatened the credibility of CCAMLR and changed the incentives for engaging in coalitions, which led to the development of both management and enforcement approaches to compliance. State and non-state actors became increasingly involved in developing these diverse compliance mechanisms, thereby actively contributing to the adaptive capacity of CCAMLR. Synergies between fisheries industry, environmental conservation, and state sovereignty interests were effectively utilized. Individual actors, organizations and countries providing leadership had strong incentives for doing so. Trust and reputation was important for the compliance mechanisms leading to a substantial reduction of IUU fishing.

Reconstructing Transportation: Linking Tolls and Transit for Place-Based Mobility

Drawing on the history of four independent transportation agencies, this essay suggests models for place-based systems that promote urban mobility. It accounts for the adversarial relationship between contemporary champions of automobile-oriented infrastructure and mass transit advocates by tracing the political and institutional history of passenger transport in America. It also points out several significant exceptions to the overall pattern of modal separation and competition, describing how revenue from bridges and tunnels in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area was harnessed to finance and support complementary mass transit. The author notes how tolls and fees paid by drivers subsidized transit that reduced traffic congestion and supported urban vitality. Observing that regime change and economic stimulus spending now presents a rare window of opportunity for change, the author calls for reconceptualizing policy and reconstructing institutions to support efficient, equitable transportation systems that transcend modes and promote sustainable urban development.

Extreme events: being prepared for the pitfalls with progressing sustainable urban water management

It is widely accepted that new, more sustainable approaches to urban water management are required if cities and ecosystems are to become resilient to the effects of growing urban populations and global warming. Climate change predictions show that it is likely that cities around the world will be subject to an increasing number of extreme and less predictable events including flooding and drought. Historical transition studies have shown that major events such as extremes can expedite the adoption of new practices by destabilising existing management regimes and opening up new windows of opportunity for change. Yet, they can also act to reinforce and further entrench old practices. This case study of two Australian cities responding to extreme water scarcity reveals that being unprepared for extremes can undermine progress towards sustainable outcomes. The results showed that despite evidence of significant progress towards sustainable urban water management in Brisbane and Melbourne, the extreme water scarcity acted to reinforce traditional practices at the expense of emerging sustainability niches. Drawing upon empirical research and transitions literature, recommendations are provided for developing institutional mechanisms that are able to respond proactively to extreme events and be a catalyst for SUWM when such opportunities for change arise.