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The political process inherent dynamics approach (PIDA) as an analytical framework for the explanation of environmental policy
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ICPP - International Conference on Public Policy Milan 2015
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... approach originates from early considerations on institutional theory by Larry Kiser and Elinor Ostrom (1983), and it conceives of the interaction between the actions of political actors and the influence institutions have on it as a central explanatory factor. Other factors employed for the analysis of environmental policy include problem structures, the spectrum of alternative measures and situa- tional aspects (see Figure 2) as additional explanatory factors. Up to that point, this approach does not differ greatly from other approaches that combine actors and institutions, like for example, actor-centred institu- tionalism (Mayntz/Scharpf 1995). ...
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... substantial difference is that an understanding of political processes underlies the approach, that, as does the MSA, assumes that the inherent process dynamics and chance are important driving forces for environmental policy. Figure 2 illustrates the central assumptions of PIDA. At the centre of the political process are actors and their activities. ...
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... the centre of the political process are actors and their activities. These are influenced by institutional frame- work conditions ("institutions" in Figure 2), available (instrumental) alternatives ("alternatives", in Figure 2), the concrete problem structures underlying political problems, and situational aspects. However, the interac- tion of the different factors develops in the environmental policy process unpredictable dynamics, at the end of which policies are generated, the effect of which can again have a feedback effect on the environmental policy process. ...
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... the centre of the political process are actors and their activities. These are influenced by institutional frame- work conditions ("institutions" in Figure 2), available (instrumental) alternatives ("alternatives", in Figure 2), the concrete problem structures underlying political problems, and situational aspects. However, the interac- tion of the different factors develops in the environmental policy process unpredictable dynamics, at the end of which policies are generated, the effect of which can again have a feedback effect on the environmental policy process. ...
Context 5
... risk was real but unclear for individual cases, and this was at a time when the EC was not yet capable of adopting its own product regulations. A similar mechanism can also be observed at an international level: Given the real but ultimately unclear risk that national importation restrictions could vio- late the WTO's free trade regime and would therefore fail in a court of arbitration, and the risk of a failure of a global forest convention at the UN level, in the early 90s different forces (environmental organisations, private enterprises, and nation states) pushed through the creation of voluntary certification schemes, e.g., the Forest Stewarship Council (Bartley 2003: 447f.). Institutions, then, have inner dynamics that have an effect on political processes and that do not mainly, or only, aim to find solutions to ecological problems. ...
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Citations
... For the case of wind, the model calculations clearly showed the disadvantages of not including wind turbines in the system. Wind energy is comparably cheap and land-efficient, but technology options (and political instruments) are not politically neutral and can be preferred or rejected based on party politics, values, and ideologies (Böcher, 2012;Böcher and Töller, 2015). ...
... It has been shown in political science studies for several fields of environmental policy that coincidences and process inherent dynamics in political processes can play a crucial role and influence policy outcomes (Vogelpohl et al., 2022;Beer, 2022;Böcher, 2012;Böcher and Töller, 2015). We discussed conflicts, debates and negotiation processes that can be expected. ...
... Therefore, we expect to approach a foundational policy question: why (i. e. under what conditions) a certain policy is adopted instead of another (Böcher and Töller, 2015) by analytically focusing on the discursive ground where bioeconomy policies are going to be built. ...
The concept of bioeconomy has spread globally as a floating signifier leading to multiple policies and strategies. As an ambiguous concept, bioeconomy policy agendas at national levels draw on a variety of discourses and visions later reshaped by the particular political and social contexts of each country or region. From the broad boundaries of the overarching bioeconomy meta-discourse, local dominant discourses emerge, created and transformed by international and national social actors in the frame of power relations displaying discursive struggles. Analyzing this body of social dimensions, particularly from less studied Global South countries, can contribute to a critical comprehension of ongoing bioeconomy policy processes and the relationship between international regimes and domestic policies. In recent years, efforts to develop bioeconomy and forest-based bioeconomy strategies and related policy-making were observed in Argentina and Uruguay, two neighbouring countries with analogous forest sector development. Against this background, our study aims to explore these ongoing forest-based bioeconomy policy processes. In order to do so, discourse analysis tools were used to identify current dominant visions regarding bioeconomy. Additionally, the main social agents dealing with and promoting forest-based bioeconomy as well as discourse coalitions were identified with social network analysis techniques. Our findings revealed generally scarce activity of bioeconomy policy debate in media, conducted by a narrow number of legitimatized actors, namely the private sector and interest groups in Argentina and government agencies and TNCs in Uruguay. Local promoters and dominant visions mirror pre-existing narratives and experiences excluding alternative visions. Uruguay's forest-based bioeconomy aims to mirror European experiences, while the Argentinian is embedded in the national agricultural bioeconomy discourse. As bioeconomy operates as a floating signifier, political demands are articulated to a particular meaningful configuration partially fixing bioeconomy's meaning. In this process, central actors exert structural power, indicated by their discourse network centrality as a parameter of their social capital, but also hegemonize bioeconomy excluding alternative actors and their visions.
... We do so in order to develop our own concept of 'trigger points' and 'spillover'. This idea is motivated by the question how a crisis phenomenon can be specifically characterised in terms of 'situational aspects' (Böcher and Töller 2015) or 'focusing events' (Kingdon 2014) that hit a specific cluster of 'problem structures'. This cluster of problem structures is dominated by the prevalence of too many 'trigger points', which has severe effects on policymaking. ...
... With PIDA Böcher and Töller suggest a conceptual framework that considers, amongst others, problem structures and 'situational aspects' and their interplay as being influential for policy change (Böcher and Töller 2015). However, Böcher and Töller conceptualise situational aspects as a broad andso farunspecific category, and do not narrow it to aspects affecting severe crisis phenomena (in our case: COVID-19's specific problem structure). ...
... COVID-19 reminds us par excellence that policymaking is a non-linear process that is heavily impacted by the 'unexpected and unknown'. Scholars framed the latter as 'focusing events' (Kingdon 2014) or 'situational aspects' (Böcher and Töller 2015) 4 that to different degrees alter policymakers' understanding of the policy problem. Acute crises, such as the financial crisis (2007/2008) or the reactor accident in Fukushima (2011), account for such unlikely events that they unbalance policy routines and may result in unprecedented policies. ...
This article understands COVID-19 as an eruptive event with severe effects on many policy fields beyond (public) health. Based on this assumption, we consider the pandemic as a catalyst for policy change across policy fields. For that reason, we suggest a new approach for conceptualising eruptive events as triggers that provoke far-reaching change and spillover effects in fields of policymaking. These are characterised by a complex problem structure-conceived of as clusters of trigger points-in need of intersectoral policymaking. Our approach suggests a mechanism of multi-dimensional spillover that initiates new dynamics to gridlocked policy processes by acting with regard to the most pressing trigger points. To test the concept, we take an explorative look at public health, educational policy and food and agricultural policy in Germany. The examples demonstrate how the concept of problem-related trigger points and spillover effects can be applied to analyse policy change across policy areas in pandemic times and beyond.
... In our work, we follow research on instrument choice in environmental policy and apply the heuristics of the Political Process-inherent Dynamics Approach (PIDA) (Böcher and Töller 2015). As this approach integrates explanatory factors of policy analysis and has been used to study instrument choice and change (Böcher and Töller 2007;Böcher 2012), it suits our main research interest to explore possible explanations and their related causal configurations for the variance in the taxation of aviation transport among European countries. ...
... Actual possible instrument choice often diverges from theoretical options in policy. Furthermore, unexpected situational aspects representing external factors like scandals and catastrophes can change the course of a political debate and open new windows of opportunity (Böcher 2012;Böcher and Töller 2015). PIDA aims to explain policies in which the institutional framework plays a major role and conflicts and changes in actor behaviour occur in the political process because of their inherent dynamics and problem structures. ...
In the public debate on climate change in Europe, aviation transport has become a bone of contention and thus also a target of political regulation. While the actual available policy instruments, their designs and effects have been extensively studied, their political economy has remained a rather blind spot of research. Therefore, in this article we explore factors accounting for the instrument choice in aviation policy. Revealing most different evolutions in this matter, the Netherlands and Germany represent appropriately illustrative cases for a comparative exploration. Based on the Political Process-inherent Dynamics Approach, we shed light on a highly complex and limiting institutional environment for aviation policy-making and ultimately identify diverging conceptions of problem structures as well as different configurations of party competition as main explanatory factors for instrument choice and aviation policy evolution.
... As indicated, the approach is inspired by the Politically Inherent Dynamics Approach (PIDA) (Böcher & Töller, 2012), in which the interactions between actors, driven by their underlying interests, that might follow different interests represent a central explanatory aspect for the analysis of political processes (Böcher & Töller, 2016). According to PIDA, political processes are self-dynamic processes, characterised and influenced by five factors: (i) problem structures, (ii) actors, (iii) institutions, (iv) alternative instruments, and (v) situational aspects. ...
Genome editing techniques (GETs) could support the transition towards a circular bio-based economy. This would require a regulatory framework that enables technical and scientific progress while ensuring safety for humans and environment. In this context, there is a debate among stakeholders in Europe whether products resulting from GETs should be subject to the GMO legislation. This paper analyses different stakeholder positions and underlying arguments on this question based on the Politically Inherent Dynamics Approach (PIDA). This takes into consideration the role of actor interests, the problem structure, institutions and alternative instruments. The analysis, based on a series of expert interviews and a Delphi survey, reveals that differing stakeholder positions are strongly shaped by differing beliefs and interests. This leads to a divergence in the definition of the problem structure, and the related solutions, in terms of the institutional set-up and alternative instruments considered. It highlights the need to reach a shared vision among actors of the problems that need to be solved, in order to understand if GETs can be considered as one potential ‘solution’, embracing the precautionary and innovation principles. Alternative instruments are proposed, including a call for higher stakeholder engagement and diverse regulatory instruments.
... The aim of the comparative case studies is to identify key causal mechanisms in bioeconomy politics in order to reveal underlying power relations, conflicts of interest, and relevant impacts on the environment. The project applies the political process-inherent dynamics approach (PIDA) (Böcher and Töller, 2015) as a conceptual framework. This framework highlights the role of actors, institutions, problem structures, situational aspects, and availability of instruments (alternatives) and their interconnectedness as explanatory factors and has so far been used to analyze different environmental policies, especially in Germany Töller and Böcher, 2018). ...
... For example, people's mobility behavioura key factor to reduce CO 2 emissions -has been examined from very different scientific angles (for example, Williams et al, 2019) which can produce results that help to develop and apply comprehensive policy approaches. However, translating multidisciplinary evidence into policymaking is an open and challenging task that requires not only the acknowledgement of the specifics of the science-policy interface (Böcher and Krott, 2016) but also the inherent dynamics of the policymaking process (Böcher and Töller, 2015). Notably, it is in this respect that behavioural administration techniques can make a valuable contribution by analysing and influencing the way policymakers assess and utilise evidence. ...
Behavioural public policy is predominantly based on insights from behavioural economics and psychology in order to ‘nudge’ people to act in line with specific aims and to overcome the dilemma of behaviour that contradicts economic rationality. In contrast, we define behavioural public policy as a multi-disciplinary and multi-methodological concept that utilises insights from the whole range of behavioural research. Based on a scoping review and peer survey we see merit in behavioural insights from disciplines such as anthropology, geography and sociology as well as the application of qualitative methods. Our findings identify the need to advance behavioural public policy conceptually and methodologically. This article challenges our current understanding of behavioural policymaking by integrating ‘foreign’ views and approaches that do not (yet) belong to the core discipline. We argue that behavioural public policy should not be a synonym for a limited number of policy approaches (for example, nudges) based on specific research methods (for example, randomised control trials) to reach individual behaviour change. Instead, our findings suggest a redefinition of the scientific footing of behavioural public policy.
Accessible housing is essential for disabled and elderly people with physical restraints to live independently. In reality, however, there is a considerable lack of accessible housing in Germany. While investigating the reasons for this insufficient supply, this article discusses the underlying policy mix and scrutinizes German accessible housing politics. Based on 50 semi‐structured interviews in the two states SaxonyAnhalt and Hesse, it identifies the weak political influence of disability lobbyists as the primary reason. Lacking structural, organizational, and institutional power, they do not get access to decision‐makers in housing politics but are labeled as social policy actors. On the other hand, housing and building industries have considerable resources to push their housing policy agenda. Nevertheless, the empirical findings clearly show the challenging endeavor of integrating social and building policies in accessible housing while contributing to the overarching understanding of politics in minor policy fields.
„Glück und Gesundheit“ – die beiden Begriffe fallen häufig in einem Atemzug. Gesund zu bleiben bedeutet, nicht zu erkranken. Doch wer übernimmt dafür die Verantwortung? Oder ist es pures Glück, gesund oder krank zu sein? Abgesehen von vielen Fällen, in den tatsächlich auch auf Basis aktueller Forschung ungeklärt ist, wie es zur Entstehung bestimmter Erkrankungen kommt, gibt es ein breites Spektrum an Krankheiten, für die Maßnahmen zur Prävention oder Gesundheitsförderung bekannt und erprobt sind. Diese könnten dann zumindest in einem größeren Teil der Fälle dabei helfen, die Krankheit zu vermeiden. Daneben sind wir jeden Tag verschiedenen Einflüssen ausgesetzt, die sich auf unsere Gesundheit auswirken können: Faktoren in der Umwelt, in unserer Lebens-, Arbeits- und Wohnsituation genauso wie soziale oder psychische Aspekte, die sich in unterschiedlicher Weise gesundheitsfördernd oder -schädigend niederschlagen können. Dabei stellt sich die Frage, welche Rolle politische Entscheidungen spielen – zunächst klingt es möglicherweise „weit weg“, weil es doch um sehr individuelle und persönliche Lebensumstände geht. Doch bei genauerem Hinsehen können politische Entscheidungen die Voraussetzung dafür schaffen, dass sowohl physische als auch psychische Krankheiten vermieden werden können oder deren Ausbreitung vermindert wird. Das schauen wir uns genauer an.
The nature of problems and how they are perceived (problem structures) are decisive factors for the course and outcome of a political process. For this reason, the analysis of the properties of problems is a subject of the scientific sub-discipline policy analysis. Problems can be classified according to different categories, such as complexity (simple, complex, wicked, superwicked problems), long-term or short-term nature or based on their importance for the economy. This article initially gives an overview of different theoretical classification systems from diverse disciplines such as political science, management science, economics and design. Following this, the problem structures of bioenergy policy in the power and heat sector in Germany are analyzed based on these theoretical considerations and based on the results of an empirical case study, which has been conducted in the frame of the research project “Bio-Ecopoli”. The aim of the contribution is to uncover causal mechanisms in political processes of bioenergy policy in Germany and to better understand this regulatory area, which is regarded as a sub-area of bioeconomy policy here. The analysis shows that problems of bioenergy policy can be classified as wicked problems due to their high level of complexity, the unclear definition of the problem and the differing views on suitable political solutions. According to the results of the analysis, three main factors will influence political processes of bioenergy policy in the future: Acceptance, distribution of power and framing.
