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Policy Coherence and Policy Domains
Abstract
Policy scholars generally agree that greater coherence of policies is desirable, but the concept is under-theorized and has received little empirical examination. This research examines the policy coherence of 18 policy domains and considers institutional factors that affect variation among them. There is considerable variation in coherence among substantive, regional, and identity-based policy domains. Greater degrees of policy coherence exist for policy domains that have dominant congressional committees or have more involvement of lead federal agencies. These findings extend what policy scholars know about policy subsystems in American policymaking to consideration of the coherence of policy domains.
... On the other hand, in social sciences, particularly political sciences, the concept of coherence is relatively new and has not been well tested. As May et al., (2006) stated :" Policy coherence is an elusive concept that is easily understood but difficult to measure". In fact, Policy coherence lacks a universally agreed-upon definition due to its multidimensional nature and diverse applications across different contexts. ...
... ((IMVF), 2017) Although this definition focuses more on coherence and its role in sustainable development on national and cross-national levels, it highlights the main elements that form the core of the study of policy coherence. Commonly, public policy analysis as a scientific field, perceives coherence as the promotion of mutual reinforcement between a set of public policies across various public entities, thus creating a degree of synergy that makes it possible to achieve the objectives targeted by decision-makers in first place (Ashoff, 2009;Howlett & Rayner, 2007;Jordan & Halpin, 2006;May et al., 2006;Nilsson et al., 2012). Moreover, policy coherence refers to the synergetic and systematic support for the achievement of common objectives within each policy and between a set of policies, trying resolve a problem or a set of problems simultaneously. ...
... There are several dimensions that require attention and an in-depth analysis to enhance policy coherence. Based on the literature scanning, the dimensions mostly analyzed by scholars as well as practitioners are: horizontal coherence (Nilsson et al., 2012), vertical coherence (Duwe et al., 2023;OECD, 2016), temporal coherence (Huttunen et al., 2014;Kourentzes & Athanasopoulos, 2019), and contextual coherence (May et al., 2006). The horizontal coherence stands for the alignment of policies across different sectors at the same level of governance. ...
Navigating the intricate landscape of modern governance has increasingly placed the exploration of policy mixes at the heart of political science. As governments strive to address the “wicked problems” of our time—complex, interwoven issues such as climate change, economic inequality, and public health crises—the need for effective combinations of policy instruments and actors has never been more critical. Central to this effort is the pursuit of policy coherence, which aims to align diverse policies, manage trade- offs, and prevent the pitfalls of overlapping and redundant measures that can derail even the most well- intentioned initiatives. However, despite its importance, policy coherence remains elusive, fraught with challenges in its conceptualization, measurement, and practical application. This article tackles these challenges head-on through a mixed-methods approach, blending a comprehensive review of the literature with conceptual case studies that simulate real-world policy scenarios. Our findings reveal that while qualitative methods offer valuable insights into the nuanced dynamics of policy interactions, there is a pressing need for more robust quantitative tools to accurately measure and enhance coherence across varied policy domains. Moreover, the study underscores the limitations of current approaches, particularly their dependence on extensive data and the complexities involved in capturing the full scope of policy interdependencies. By weaving together these insights, this article enriches the ongoing discourse on policy coherence and charts practical pathways for future research and policy development, with the ultimate goal of crafting more coherent and effective solutions to the world’s most intractable challenges.
... Lo anterior coincide con la creciente atención que el campo del análisis de política pública presta al fenómeno de la coherencia en y entre las políticas, y entre dominios de política (Cejudo y Michel, 2016May et al., 2006;OECD, 1996;Trein et al., 2020). Asimismo, en términos empíricos, May et al. (2005) examinan para el caso de Canadá y Estados Unidos, la coherencia y los componentes de política que influyen sobre los hacedores de política; Jordan & Halpin (2006) evalúan la coherencia entre las políticas rurales y agrícolas en Escocia, resaltando las limitaciones del abordaje normativo y poco crítico de la coherencia. ...
... La coherencia supone la consistencia entre la problemática identificada, los intereses en juego y las metas, y población objetivo a atender dentro de un dominio sectorial de política específico (May et al., 2005(May et al., , 2006. Se trata de la relación lógica y consistente en y entre políticas, ya sea desde los objetivos, los espacios o en la gestión de procesos (Careja, 2011). ...
... Se trata de la relación lógica y consistente en y entre políticas, ya sea desde los objetivos, los espacios o en la gestión de procesos (Careja, 2011). May et al. (2006), sugieren que la estabilidad en el tiempo de las políticas tiende a estar asociada con la coherencia entre estas, y que esta última, a su vez, se puede ver favorecida o limitada por la definición de instituciones claras que soporten las políticas. ...
La coherencia de políticas es un fenómeno de creciente interés y múltiples marcos analíticos han surgido para comprenderla mejor. Basados en Cejudo y Michel (2016), aquí analizamos la coherencia en/entre las políticas de implementación de los ODS (CONPES 3918) y de fomento de la inversión en innovación (CONPES 3892) en Colombia. Examinamos la teoría causal interna de cada política y la correspondencia entre objetivos, instrumentos y beneficiarios de las dos. Los resultados muestran que la coherencia en las políticas es condición frecuente en su diseño, y que la coherencia entre políticas es posible cuando existen objetivos abarcadores que pueden facilitar la articulación con otras.
... The concept of policy coherence and its analysis deals with consistency in policymaking and implementation. In principle, coherence is part of policy as different policies' objectives share common ideas (May et al. 2006). Previous research has shown the benefits of better aligning BE and climate policy (Herbert et al. 2022), urban policy and wellbeing (Chapman & Howden-Chapman 2021), and urban regeneration and climate change (Song & Müller 2022) in accelerating local climate actions. ...
... an attribute of policy that systematically reduces conflicts and promotes synergies between and within different policy areas to achieve the outcomes associated with jointly agreed policy objectives. (Nilsson et al. 2012: 396) Greater policy consistency, stability and effect is an expected result of increased coherence (May et al. 2006). Research about policy coherence gained traction in the 2000s (e.g. ...
... Research about policy coherence gained traction in the 2000s (e.g. Carbone 2008; May et al. 2006;Picciotto 2005), but it was not until 2015 that publications on the topic started to have a sustained increase encompassed in two main groups: governance coherence (related to multilevel policymaking processes) and policy-specific coherence (linked to policy objectives and instruments within a specific policy domain) (Righettini & Lizzi 2022). According to Nilsson et al. (2012) coherence deals with relationships between policies, which account for interaction within a single policy domain (internal coherence) or between different policy domains (external coherence). ...
As European governments adopt new circular built environment policies to cope with the socio-ecological crisis, the need for evaluating such policies gains in urgency. Ex post evaluation is, however, difficult as these policies have not been in place long enough to have had significant effects. Nonetheless, ex ante policy evaluation may be possible by assessing policy coherence or the alignment and synergies of policy goals, instruments and implementation practices. This paper proposes a framework to analyse circular built environment policies. This framework is based on a combination of two existing analytical frameworks: circular city development and policy coherence analysis. The framework is tested for the case of a circular built environment in campus development at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, which is regarded as an urban development proxy. Policy documents and semi-structured interviews were analysed and coded. Results confirm previous findings about a prevailing focus on looping actions and indicates limited policy instrumentalisation across governance levels. Identified multilevel (in)coherence in circular city policy is pointed out as consequence of siloed-led and supply chain-based thinking and underdeveloped circular policy frameworks. Finally, the analytical benefits of circular city development and policy coherence frameworks are discussed. Policy relevance Circular economy policies are conceptually limited in delivering a more circular city and built environment. By proposing and testing a circular city policy coherence framework, this article reveals the limited effect of circular economy policies in coping with unsustainable urbanisation. Policymaking and implementation for circularity in the built environment require frameworks that embrace urban complexities instead of reductionist approaches seeing the built environment as a mere agglomeration of supply-chains. Policymakers may use the proposed circular city policy coherence framework as a tool for ex ante policy evaluation in diverse areas of urban development, and specifically for built environment interventions. The combination of both content- and process-based frameworks enables the identification of possible (in)coherence in current and future policy goals, instruments and implementation practices. This can improve policy in early stages of implementation and create more effective policy outputs and outcomes in the long term.
... policy coherence and integration of sustainable development agendas, climate change governance, development-or energy policy (see e.g., Bocquillon, 2018;Carbone, 2008;Carbone et al., 2016;Dombrowsky et al., 2022;Glass & Newig, 2019;Koff, 2017;Lenschow et al., 2018;May et al., 2006;McGowan et al., 2019;Nilsson et al., 2012;Nilsson & Persson, 2017;Strambo et al., 2015;Tosun & Lang, 2017;Tosun & Leininger, 2017). Despite the calls to understand temporal- (OECD, 2015), and political- (Bocquillon, 2018) impacts on coherence, less is known empirically of how such factors impact coherent policymaking. ...
... Connecting ideas and frames to policy coherence, recent studies have pointed to the under-researched but potentially criticaleffects of frames and ideas on policy (in)coherence (Bocquillon, 2018;Lenschow et al., 2018). Bocquillon (2018, p. 341) drawing on May et al. (2006) states that "policy frames act as policy glueor organising ideabinding issues and actors together". Coherence is thereby constructed, he argues, by discourses through problem formulation. ...
... Although definitions of the concept vary; from instrumental, for example, policy coherence as "the ability of multiple goals to co-exist with each other in a logical fashion" (Howlett & Rayner, 2013, p. 170), to more political, for example, as an attribute which "promotes synergies between and within different policy areas to achieve outcomes associated with jointly agreed policy objectives" (Nilsson et al., 2012, p. 369). Although widely researched, studies on policy coherence tend to focus on crosssectoral aspects of coherence (Carbone, 2008;Carbone et al., 2016;Dombrowsky et al., 2022;Glass & Newig, 2019;Koff, 2017;May et al., 2006;McGowan et al., 2019;Monkelbaan, 2019;Nilsson et al., 2012;Tosun & Lang, 2017;Tosun & Leininger, 2017), and less so on the political and temporal factors. However, previous studies indicate that potential incoherence may be due not only to incongruent goals, but potentially, to the existence of differing frames, discourses and underlying values or power asymmetries impacting policy design and implementation (Bocquillon, 2018;Dombrowsky et al., 2022;Lenschow et al., 2018;Strambo et al., 2015). ...
Policy coherence is crucial in the 2030 Agenda's transformative ambitions and heralded as of paramount importance to ensure the successful implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and climate policy targets. Despite political efforts to achieve policy coherence, apparent trade‐offs and goal conflicts have emerged – even in a proclaimed ‘front‐runner’ country like Sweden. This paper examines the role of ideas in proposing and legitimising policy options and achieving policy coherence in the light of the Swedish recovery debate in 2020 following the COVID‐19 pandemic. Ideas of a green economic recovery put forward in the public debate are examined through thematic text and frame analysis. We show that ideas of a green transition, boosted by economic recovery spending, draw on a synergistic frame in combining social, environmental, and economic policy options, carrying a potential for coherency. However, the absence of a discussion on power, as in who stands to gain what under which circumstances, coupled with an inherent understanding of a temporal hierarchy of policy priorities does not only impact the ability to design coherent policies but may have considerable impacts on the prospects of achieving sustainability transformations.
... Policy ideas are often linked with others that complement them in substantial ways (Dolan, 2021). Policy domains that conceptually bound policy problems and the solutions that can be applied to fix them typically incorporate a number of different issues (Browne, 1995;Laumann & Knoke, 1987;May et al., 2006), indicating the prevalence of interconnections between issues within the policymaking process. As long as policy issues have connected ideas, or have an issue in common, even very disparate concepts can become linked (May et al., 2006). ...
... Policy domains that conceptually bound policy problems and the solutions that can be applied to fix them typically incorporate a number of different issues (Browne, 1995;Laumann & Knoke, 1987;May et al., 2006), indicating the prevalence of interconnections between issues within the policymaking process. As long as policy issues have connected ideas, or have an issue in common, even very disparate concepts can become linked (May et al., 2006). We commonly see this happening when issues share similar policy images (Baumgartner & Jones, 2010), or when they use a common language ( Jordan, 2005;Richardson, 2000), giving rise to intra-stream interdependence. ...
Policy process literature offers several frameworks and theories to understand the adoption or modification of policies across different jurisdictions. Extant studies focus on the emergence of coalitions, actors, strategies, etc. as they relate to individual policies. Policy actions, however, are typically deployed as packages—combinations of different instruments or measures. Policy mixes—also used interchangeably with terms such as policy packaging, policy bundling, etc.—are an important aspect of policy design. However, the role and emergence of policy mixes in the context of the policy process have not been studied in great depth. This study examines the role of different policy pathways that yield desired policy outcomes in the electric vehicle (EV) policy subsystem. We use the case of sub‐national EV policies across the US to analyze how different combinations of policy actions operate in combination and/or competition with each other to achieve the desired policy objectives. The study contributes to the policy design scholarship in two ways. First, by analyzing the emergence of policy mixes as policy outputs during the policy design process using a theoretical lens applying the multiple streams framework. Second, by deploying fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis as a methodological tool to uncover causal pathways to desired policy outcomes.
... What is crucial is the existence of a "policy glue" to let the activities of these subgroups of the policy domains to cohere. These integrative forces would include commonality in the ideas about a policy area and a clear target population of the domain (May et al., 2006). The less common the ideas across a diverse policy subsystem and more diffused target groups, the less likely for evidence to be used in a unified manner. ...
... This leads us to establish a theoretical proposition around the diverse "cultures of evidence" that could explain the variations in evidence use across policy sectors. Cultural theory acknowledges that there are multiple forms of relational patterns (or institutions) that these policy sectors could take as a social unit, but we also need to acknowledge that the extent to which these sectors could act as a unit depends on the existence of a "policy glue" as earlier research on policy domains suggested (May et al., 2006). These "cultures of evidence" can underpin the decision to "[economize] action by relieving people of the impossible task of interpreting afresh every situation before acting" (Hoppe, 2002, p. 306). ...
Evidence use across policy sectors is widely believed to vary as each sector espouses a specific and dominant pattern in how it sources evidence. This view privileges the idea that a “culture of evidence” serves as a norm that guides behavior in the entire sector. In this article, we seek to nuance the policy sectoral approach to understanding evidence use by analyzing the results of a large-N survey of federal employees in Brazil (n = 2,177). Our findings show a diverse set of cultures of evidence with a few sectors like Science and Technology demonstrating a strong likelihood for using scientific evidence with most sectors showing a mixed pattern of sourcing evidence. However, a majority of the surveyed civil servants show an “indistinct” pattern of evidence use who are likely to not use any sources of evidence.
... Coordination (Cejudo & Michel, 2017;Peters, 2018; and coherence (Cejudo & Michel, 2017;May et al., 2006;Scobie, 2016) are also needed to ensure that the process of integration works adequately. Accountability (Biesbroek, 2021) and transparency through the decision-making process can increase the integrative policy's legitimacy. ...
... Addressing integration at the outset of the design stage is key for establishing coherence (Cejudo & Michel, 2017;May et al., 2006;Scobie, 2016) and coordination (Cejudo & Michel, 2017;Peters, 2018;. Accountability mechanisms also need to be designed into the integrated policy and "should provide clear directions in how to contribute to realising cross-cutting policy objectives" (Biesbroek, 2021) while ensuring individuals and institutions are held accountable to the policy's goals. ...
An important aspect of policy integration is the need for policymakers to establish integrative capacity. However, very few scholars who refer to this concept have explained what integrative capacity is and what aspects of the policy process policymakers need to focus on to establish that capacity. In this paper, we define integrative capacity and introduce an “integrative capacity framework” that outlines key components required by public agencies to progress policy integration. Drawing on existing literature, we apply three dimensions of policy—the policy process, program, and politics—to identify where integrative capacity can occur. Within those dimensions, we identify four conditions that can impact integration: coordination and coherence; accountability, transparency, and legitimacy; resourcing and adequate institutional architecture. We argue that by unpacking the integrative capacity concept, scholars and policymakers can utilize the framework to identify what elements of the policy process need to be addressed to increase the likelihood of integrative policy success.
... Coherence analysis facilitates the integration of goals and objectives from different policies while retaining their individual implementation mechanisms and actors (Duraiappah and Bhardwaj 2007). Although policy coherence was first used for evaluating cross-border policy alignment, it has also been used to assess global frameworks and policies across sectors, groups and geographical areas within a country (May, Sapotichne, and Workman 2006). This need for the analysis of coherence in diverse circumstances has resulted in the development of numerous analytical frameworks (Duraiappah and Bhardwaj 2007;Bouwma et al. 2018;Voyer et al. 2020;Waheed, Fischer, and Khan 2021;Ahammad, Stacey, and Sunderland 2021;Nilsson et al. 2012;and, Bouwma et al. 2018). ...
... As demonstrated in the results, lack of coherence in policies is one of the most obvious reasons underpinning implementation gaps (May, Sapotichne, and Workman 2006). The new Guidelines on the Study of Hydropower Projects (2018) have added environmental components and recommends consideration of environmental and social variables, comparing different alternatives, impacts on environment and biodiversity, and assessing risks of climate change. ...
... We identified five policy domains that shape patterns of grandparent care. A domain encompasses a set of policies that address a shared substantive issue and has 'integrative properties' or a shared logic (May et al., 2006). For example, the first domain, 'parental and grandparent leaves, and flexible work' encompasses workplace accommodations of childcare responsibilities, and the second, 'childcare and education policy', encompasses formal settings in which children receive education and care. ...
Grandparent childcare is important to support parents’ work/care reconciliation. Research has begun to identify relationships between grandparent childcare patterns and policy settings. However, this work is disparate and focused on childcare policy, with little engagement with the broader range of policies that shape grandparent childcare. A holistic approach to understanding the relationship between policies and grandparent childcare is important to capture the intergenerational dynamics of family decisions about childcare and the complementarities (or not) of policies in different domains. This scoping review identifies policies that directly aim to shape grandparents’ involvement in childcare and that indirectly shape configurations of care. Most literature focuses on childcare and parental leave policies’ impact on parental demand for grandparent childcare. But a wider, intergenerational, policy lens reveals that policies (such as retirement income policies) affect parents’ demand for, and grandparents’ supply of childcare, and that policies in different domains are not always aligned.
... Head & Alford, 2015). More specifically, objectives defined a priori and for the long term are cautioned against, as they may hamper flexibility and learning (May et al., 2006), sharpen friction (Matland, 1995) and make negotiation or deliberation across divergent interests more difficult (Kuenkel et al., 2011). A scepticism towards firm objectives is prevalent also in the literature on public sector innovation, where tasks of planners are often described in terms of risk-taking and facilitation of open-ended testing of prototypes (e.g. ...
This paper investigates how planners involved in collaborative sustainability innovation in major Swedish municipalities negotiate a bureaucratic and an experimental institutional logic. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach, we argue that preferred ways of combining the logics among planners are influenced by project management practices. Projectification thus appears to mediate between the two logics, 'taming' to some extent the experimental logic. At the same time, variation across planners indicates ongoing dynamics between the logics and potential resistance against dominating project modes that warrant further attention.
... If the efforts are not spread across a long period of time, they will be meaningless (OECD 2015;UN 2018). The stakeholders mentioned in the domestic and international fields would reveal that there is an interplay between policy and politics (May et al. 2005(May et al. , 2006. Without resolving this link between policy and politics, it would be difficult to achieve policy coherence. ...
Lignite provides energy security and contributes economically. However, it also causes dirty outcomes in terms of climate aspect. In addition to the energy and climate dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals, there is also a water issue: lignite is usually found submerged below the local groundwater tables. Mining lignite could be exploited to achieve drinkable and agriculturally usable water. In today's literature, while the impact of lignite production on global warming and emissions are already highly discussed, the water management side of the issue is regularly omitted. However, considering the complex interlink between these three areas (the Water-Energy-Climate (WEC) nexus) is necessary within policy coherence, which is mostly ignored even though it is one of the development targets. Here in this framework, Türkiye, which aims to reduce its heavy dependency on energy imports, is worth studying because almost all of its coal, the country's largest fossil resource, is lignite. Therefore, this study examines the WEC nexus related to lignite production and combustion and seeks policy coherence between their outputs in the context of Türkiye's historical steps to climate change mitigation, specifically oriented with the Paris Agreement. This story expands from the absence of specific development policy objectives to the practicalities of politics and economics.
... Other scholars suggest another approach to policy consistency. In particular, May et al. (2006) consider the compatibility of the goals and the intent between policies, while other scholars incorporate time consistency into the concept of policy consistency. White et al., (2013) and Yoon et al., (2017) contend that long-term investment can be inhibited due to higher uncertainty caused by policy inconsistency. ...
This paper investigates the impact of government policy consistency on firm innovation. We utilize the information about the firm’s self-evaluation of the government policy consistency in the World Bank Enterprise Surveys only available from 2002 to 2006. Controlling for endogeneity problem, our regression results show that the effects of government policy consistency on innovation decisions are heterogeneous in terms of firms’ size and location classified by the income level and region. These findings indicate that in countries with a high prevalence of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and lower income levels, a flexible policy mix that maintains consistency while promoting adaptability is more effective in fostering firm innovation. This is particularly crucial for supporting technological advancements and responding to dynamic market conditions in these regions.
... Policy coherence refers to the alignment of policy objectives and tools. In other words, policies should be designed in a way that they complement each other (May et al., 2006;Mickwitz & Birnbaum, 2009). Furthermore, this compatibility occurs across substantive policy domains (e.g. ...
Achieving Sustainability Transition (ST) targets poses challenges for public authorities, decision-makers, and policies. It is not enough to rely on a single policy instrument. Policy researchers have yet to fully explore the reasons and methods for policy mixes and how different policies interact. This article looks at two critical questions regarding policy mixes: Do they align with each other both vertically and horizontally? Furthermore, do they continue to move in a consistent direction as they learn? ST policies are generally conceived under a comprehensive vision and a societal change perspective. However, studies still need to attempt to combine the concepts of learning and directionality into a time perspective for evaluating the ST policy mix. In this vein, the paper aims to design a conceptual framework for bridging this gap and consider policy mix evaluation as a continuous nested process rather than a sequential process. To answer the two previous questions, we applied this conceptual framework to a case study to evaluate the coherence of a specific ST policy mix via learning and directionality. Our findings demonstrate that policy coherence can be understood not only through static interactions but also through dynamic interactions between objectives and instruments.
... Systemic alignment or coherence across national policies and strategies is widely considered crucial for policy effectiveness and effective change. At its simplest, coherence implies that various policies sit together because they share a set of ideas or objectives (May, Sapotichne & Workman, 2006). It refers to the design and implementation of policies that are 'mutually reinforcing within and across government departments and agencies' and that 'create synergy' as they work towards agreed objectives (Mallows, 2015). ...
Literature review underpinning the Literacy, Numeracy, and Digital Literacy Strategy Ireland, commissioned by the Department of Education
... In turn, the more of a gap there is between the aims of a policy and the capabilities needed to act on it, the less the chances of successful prioritization and effective implementation (24). While policy coherence can be improved with stronger government involvement (25), even in cases where policies are coherent at the level of objectives, the associated instruments and in particular the implementation practices, can lead to policy conflict (26). Somewhat ironically, then, when the stakes of policy are highest, such as with climate change, and the aims of policies become further reaching, the chances of effective implementation reduce even further. ...
Despite widespread, scientifically supported recognition of the scope of the climate crisis, and policies in place connecting sport to sustainable development, there remain concerns that the environment and climate change are rarely acknowledged within SDP activity and that even when they are, it is unclear how such policies are implemented, and to what effect. This raises the question of how and why the climate crisis and the attendant relationships between sport and sustainable development are understood and operationalized (or not) by stakeholders within the SDP sector. In this paper, therefore, we explore various perspectives and tensions around the environment and climate crisis within the SDP sector. To do so, we draw on interviews with SDP policy-makers (primarily from the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee) and SDP practitioners living and working in the global South in order to gauge the place of the environment and climate change in their everyday SDP policy-making, programming and practices. Overall, the data shows that while SDP stakeholders recognize the urgency of the climate crisis, the need for action, and the policy agenda linking sport to sustainable development, significant barriers, tensions and politics are still in place that prevent consistent climate action within SDP. Policy commitments and coherence are therefore needed in order to make climate action a core feature of SDP activity and practice.
... Sometimes, an instrument intended to be effective to address a particular problem may clash with another existing instrument, generating adverse effects. Appeals have been made in favour of the consideration of policy mixes (Flanagan, Uyarra, and Laranja 2011) and policy coherence (May, Sapotichne, and Workman 2006) in the portfolio of interventions (Capano 2023). ...
In addition to promoting reforms, governments foster change in university systems through funding, competition, and new policy instruments. Little research has been conducted on how research centre funding schemes support organizational changes in universities and on their institutional and policy barriers. This article addresses the research centre funding schemes implemented by the regional government of Galicia (Spain) in 2016. The approach is observational and based on documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with key actors. The regional government sought to encourage organizational differentiation by increasing the autonomy of centres inside the universities and to enhance strategic research agendas, reinforcing the scientific authority of the centres’ directors. We found that the design and operation of the instrument in the context of the existing university governance system, and the interaction with other funding instruments within the policy mix, may create barriers that hinder the effectiveness of the funding scheme.
... Jedno od ključnih pitanja jest kako brojnost tih sektorskih politika i velika divergentnost ciljne skupine (osoba s invaliditetom) utječu na koherentnost inkluzivnih aktivnosti. U analizi sektorskih politika May, Sapotichne i Workman (2006) upozoravaju upravo na problem koherentnosti u slučaju raznovrsnih ciljnih skupina, njihovih interesa i različitih vrsta aktivnosti. Njihova analiza pokazuje da stupanj koherentnosti jedne politike ovisi o fokusiranosti na ključna pitanja, koncentraciji interesa i jasnim ciljevima politika. ...
The article analyses the relationship between lifelong learning and inclusive policies for persons with disabilities. The first part analyses the concept of inclusiveness in lifelong learning and the application of this concept in educational policies. The emphasis is on the educational obstacles faced by persons with disabilities and the opportunities that the concept of lifelong learning provides for their inclusion in various forms of education and learning. In doing so, dispositional, situational and institutional obstacles for persons with disabilities and different dimensions of inclusivity are distinguished. The second part of the article analyses the validity of this conceptual framework for describing the educational inclusion of persons with disabilities in Croatia. The difficulties in ensuring the coherence of the policy towards persons with disabilities and the importance of the time dimension in the implementation of these policies are described. Special attention is paid to the final results of inclusive policies. This refers to the lower inclusion of persons with disabilities, their earlier school leaving, and lower overall educational achievements compared to the general population. The analysis is based on data from research on the education of persons with disabilities on obstacles to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the process of lifelong learning, which were conducted as part of the Academic Network of European Disability Experts and within the thematic network Lifelong education available to all.
... Agricultural policy is a relatively coherent policy domain (May et al., 2006). As "the consistency of policy goals is in itself a potentially powerful integrative force" (May et al., 2006, p. 384), this policy coherence can be considered an indicator for a strong and stable socio-technical regime in the sector. ...
In sustainability transitions research, the deliberate destabilisation of socio-technical regimes is increasingly recognised as a central intervention point. Absent, however, are granular approaches for assessing whether regime destabilisation actually occurs in processes of systemic change. We propose to assess regime destabilisation through shifts in the institutionalisation of field logics. Methodologically, we employ Socio-Technical Configuration Analysis to map changes over time in the composition and alignment of institutional and technological concepts embedded in sec-toral policy. Empirically, we assess the extent to which post-Brexit agricultural policy reform in the United Kingdom marks the destabilisation of an unsustainable regime. Assessing legislative debate transcripts, we find that the previously dominant regime is only partly destabilised, as pre-existing development trajectories along established configurations of field logics, policy goals and instruments remain. These findings support the validity of our conceptual approach. Moreover , they nuance expectations about large-scale policy change as windows of opportunity for regime shifts.
... Bitcoin miners, on the other hand, face the significant challenge of maneuvering through complex, multi-layered regulatory frameworks, amplifying the need for regulatory clarity. Nonetheless, due to the challenges of keeping up with the swift pace of technological advancements and bureaucratic competition, policy coherence-the alignment of policies and regulations across diverse departments and agencies [68]-in the digital asset arena is low. ...
In this study, we used a combination of AI-assisted analysis of social media discourse and collaboration with industry experts to delve into the key research needs associated with the Bitcoin mining industry. We identified primary threats, opportunities, and research questions related to the Bitcoin mining industry and its wider impacts, focusing on its energy use and environmental footprint. Our findings spotlight the industry’s move towards increasingly greater energy efficiency and an emerging commitment to renewable energy, highlighting its potential to contribute to the coming energy transition. We underscore the transformative potential of emerging applications in the Bitcoin mining sector, especially regarding demand response, grid flexibility, and methane mitigation. We suggest that targeted research on Bitcoin can serve policymakers, private sector decision-makers, research funding agencies, environmental scientists, and the Bitcoin industry itself. We propose that filling key information gaps could help clarify the risks and benefits of Bitcoin mining by encouraging collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders and conducting research that provides baseline peer-reviewed evidence surrounding Bitcoin’s production and impacts. A collaborative approach could help mitigate the risks and realize the benefits of Bitcoin mining, including potentially positive and substantive contributions in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals.
... Therefore, intersectoral coordination between policy fields has received increasing attention by policy practitioners and scholarship. Government-centred approaches -such as policy coherence (May, Sapotichne, and Workman 2006), holistic government (Wilkinson and Appelbee 1999), joined-up government (Pollitt 2003)or governance-centred approaches -e.g. horizontal governance (Termeer 2009), policy integration (Candel and Biesbroek 2016) or boundary-spanning policy regimes (Jochim and May 2010) -are concepts that help to understand not only how to create effective policies that cut across sectors but also intersectoral dynamics (Tosun and Lang 2017). ...
While European governance of individual policy sectors has received considerable academic scrutiny, less attention has been paid to the development of intersectoral coordination. This paper charts the emergence of a supranational boundary-spanning policy regime (BSPR) in education and employment in Europe. By looking at issues, ideas, interests and institutions, we gain a deeper understanding of the conditions for the emergence and further institutionalisation of European intersectoral coordination in education and employment from the 1990s onwards. The study relies on semi-structured interviews with European policy-makers in education and employment and EU policy documents. We analyse how endogenous and exogenous factors frame (policy) issues that contribute to the emergence and further strengthening of intersectoral coordination, the extent to which ideas for European education and employment stress intersectoral policy designs, how interests support or hinder intersectoral work, and which institutions are developed with intersectoral reasoning. We find that endogenous forces (rather than exogenous ones) played a significant role in the emergence of a European BSPR in education and employment. Structural aspects and policy instruments (institutions), alongside ideas and interests, then contribute to the institutionalisation of the European BSPR in education and employment.
... More recently -connected not least to ongoing processes of globalisation, Europeanisation and internationalisation -governance-centred approaches have become increasingly prominent with their greater emphasis on cases in which a multitude of public and private actors are involved in various forms in the policy-making process to address increasingly complex governance challenges 1 and 'ensure the embeddedness of the governing dimension in the wider society' (Kjaer, 2010). Within a government-centred perspective, concepts such as holistic government (Wilkinson and Appelbee 1999), joined-up government (Pollitt 2003), policy coherence (May, Spotichne, and Workman 2006), or whole-of-government (Christensen and Laegreid 2007), among others, have been developed over time to raise awareness to the cross-sectoral nature of societal issues and the pressing need experienced by governments to develop coordination or integration strategies to better respond to them. To a great extent, all of these concepts refer to an approach that promotes coordination, collaboration, and integration among different government departments and agencies to effectively address complex societal issues and deliver cohesive and streamlined public services. ...
While much attention has been paid to European policy arrangements in individual policy fields, European intersectoral policy coordination has been mostly an overlooked phenomenon, especially within the sectors of education and employment. Thus, in the introductory paper for this Special Issue, we offer a contemporary discussion of European intersectoral policy coordination. We firstly review the literature on intersectoral policy coordination, and secondly look at the application of concepts related to intersectoral policy coordination to supranational arrangements, especially the European Union. We then employ the concept of boundary-spanning policy regime and the related ‘I’ framework (issues, ideas, interests, and institutions) to discuss the individual pieces’ contributions. This serves to explore the strength of the intersectoral perspective when analysing European policy coordination in education and employment. We conclude with a discussion of the strengths and limitations of this approach and offer a research agenda to study supranational intersectoral policy coordination (in education and employment).
... Often the causes of such lack of courage to define and redefine the theoretical aspects of the policy domains stem from the treatment of some practices which became irrelevant or obsolete over time as in the case of jumping into the 'governance' bandwagon and trends, the lack of coherency or incongruency that plagued policy-making concerning its intended use and end-user (James and Jorgensen, 2009) or the simplistic and mechanistic approach taken procedurally due to lack of or too much knowledge and depth on the subject required 'policing', resulting in fragmentation of the policy systems (Baumgartner and Jones, 2005). Some scholars even further highlighted the outcomes that multiple cultural and institutional factors could have on an already fragmented policy-governing system (May et al, 2006). Questions surrounding whose policy knowledge shall be selected or used, the degree of influence that one's positionality -both ontological and epistemological -and the invisible power dynamics may have towards these selections, the applicability of the grand narratives that policy practitioners embraced as well as the unintended, accidental but 'trendy' policy issues they aimed at solving, adds further complexities to an already tangled affair. ...
This chapter aims to revisit some of the foundational questions that help create the policy domains often treated in exclusion or in silos, particularly those involving public, industrial, and economic policies and proposed a new framework of which how the three could be integrated and synchronized by using experiences from the Brunei halal industry as a case study. This chapter is timely as the food industry is seen as one of the five main sectors aimed at diversifying the Bruneian economy. Its development is also seen as a way of achieving the ideals stated under the Brunei Vision 2035 which ran in tandem with some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Based on the research carried out on Brunei's food industry, and their interlinkages with government institutions and regional food producers alike, the proposed framework is established to further consolidate Brunei's position towards the achievement of the SDGs. Adapting it to the principles of Islamic Governance, not only puts into context the logic of why such an integrated halal policy is crucial for the alleviation of poverty (SDG1) and the development of sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11) alike but also answers the calls towards responsible production and consumption (SDG 12) whilst supporting the decent work and economic growth promotion (SDG 8).
... Often the causes of such lack of courage to define and redefine the theoretical aspects of the policy domains stem from the treatment of some practices which became irrelevant or obsolete over time as in the case of jumping into the 'governance' bandwagon and trends, the lack of coherency or incongruency that plagued policy-making concerning its intended use and end-user (James and Jorgensen, 2009) or the simplistic and mechanistic approach taken procedurally due to lack of or too much knowledge and depth on the subject required 'policing', resulting in fragmentation of the policy systems (Baumgartner and Jones, 2005). Some scholars even further highlighted the outcomes that multiple cultural and institutional factors could have on an already fragmented policy-governing system (May et al, 2006). Questions surrounding whose policy knowledge shall be selected or used, the degree of influence that one's positionality -both ontological and epistemological -and the invisible power dynamics may have towards these selections, the applicability of the grand narratives that policy practitioners embraced as well as the unintended, accidental but 'trendy' policy issues they aimed at solving, adds further complexities to an already tangled affair. ...
This chapter aims to revisit some of the foundational questions that help create the domains often treated in exclusion or in silos, particularly those involving public, industrial, and economic policies, and proposed a new framework of which how the three could be integrated and synchronized by using experiences from the Brunei halal industry as a case study. This chapter is timely as the food industry is seen as one of the five main sectors aimed at diversifying the Bruneian economy and development envisioned in the Brunei Vision 2035, in tandem with some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The study is based on the experiences of Brunei's food industry players. Adapting it to the principles of Islamic governance not only puts into context the logic of why such an integrated halal policy is crucial for the alleviation of poverty (SDG1) and the development of sustainable cities and communities (SDG 8) alike but also answers the calls towards responsible production and consumption (SDG 12) whilst supporting the decent work and economic growth promotion (SDG 11).
... Additionally, to some extent, our paper also shows the potential of viscosity in imagining policy contradictions (cf. May et al., 2006). ...
In framing nations as places that either send or receive migrants, there is a danger in defining migrant-sending nations as monolithic entities driven by a single mandate of exporting labour to a global economy. Using the concept of viscosity, we argue that sending states comprise multiple state agencies with varying interests, which can either impede, slow, or facilitate labour emigration. We demonstrate our argument by examining the Philippines' nurse retention policies against the backdrop of the country's labour export policies. While these retention policies led to an influx of Filipino nurses to rural health centres, these nurses considered such mobility a means to wait out the lack of opportunities for nurses overseas. Thus, inadvertently serving the interests of the Philippines' labour-exporting regime. We argue that a nuanced view of sending states advances our understanding of how migrant-sending nations balance emigration policies with other government interests beyond labour export.
... A policy's internal coherence refers to how far its stated values or normative alignments are reflected in its practices and outcomes. Coherence is high when the values and other influential factors are 'pulling in the same direction' and undermined when they conflict (May et al., 2006). A policy landscape is likely to be defensible as a whole where this coherence is apparent between an array of related policies. ...
Young people experience different treatment compared to older adults in the English welfare and homelessness systems, encountering varying levels of protection and disadvantage. This paper uses a value-pluralist perspective to explore the normative rationales for and the ethical defensibility of these policy differences. Evidence from 38 key informant interviews suggests that the English homelessness system is shifting towards a vulnerability-oriented response to young people. But an inconsistent value framework within the welfare system systematically disadvantages them without offering a corresponding degree of protection. As such, these closely-connected areas of social policy pull in opposing directions. Although individual positions targeting young people may (to greater and lesser extents) be justifiable, this disparity in values creates an incoherent and indefensible welfare policy landscape for this group.
... In fact, these factors can be barriers or enablers of PC. Only a few studies (Danaeefard et al., 2019;May et al., 2006;Meijers & Stead, 2004;Sianes, 2013) have described some PC factors. For example, Sianes (2013) outlined factors determining inconsistencies in the development aid system, while Danaeefard et al. (2019) examined PC factors in the context of Iranian public administration. ...
The literature on policy coherence (PC) examines contradictions and synergies between policies. This systematic review explores factors that facilitate or disrupt PC in the environmental field. Based on 70 empirical studies, this research describes the evolution of the PC literature, identifying eight critical PC factors. Furthermore, this study identifies six avenues for future research on PC, such as methodological innovations and including stakeholders in the policy development process. In addition to drawing on contradictions and synergies for PC analysis, this study suggests an inte-grative framework of barriers and enablers. These findings have implications for pol-icymakers and program managers in the environmental field.
... Policy coherence is the systematic promotion of mutually reinforcing policy activities across departments and agencies of the government, resulting in synergies for attaining the set of objectives [May et al. (2006)]. The successful progress of innovation systems depends heavily on the coherence of the policy. ...
Information and communication technology (ICT) adoption is nowadays regarded as an important program due to the fourth industrial revolution across the globe. In this study, we aimed to fill the literature gap by scrutinizing the role of social infrastructure in ICT adoption programs, which is still not much discussed. A perspective of regional innovation systems (RIS) was used because RIS key components resemble the concept of social infrastructure. We measured the implementation of the ICT adoption program in 19 cities in Indonesia by clustering them into two groups (strong and emerging innovators). To determine which social infrastructure indicators are most important in explaining the grouping, especially the strong one as the best practice, we additionally measured the F-test and t-test. The clustering results showed that cities in strong innovator clusters have homogeneously high performance in terms of the number of collaborations, local communities, and products that meet international standards. We suggest that such three indicators be taken into consideration in policymaking at the regional and national levels to improve the performance of the ICT adoption program.
... Although the world's most pressing problems (including inequalities) require cooperation across sectors, policy studies tend to identify the general lack of holistic approaches. They identify the problem of policy 'incoherence' , which means 'a lack of joined-up government that contributes to a confusing mix of policy instruments' which 'contributes to a major gap between expectations and policy outcomes' (Cairney et al, 2021a: 2, citing Jordan andHalpin, 2006;May et al., 2006). ...
There is a broad consensus across European states and the EU that social and economic inequality is a problem that needs to be addressed. Yet inequality policy is notoriously complex and contested. This book approaches the issue from two linked perspectives. First, a focus on functional requirements highlights what policymakers think they need to deliver policy successfully, and the gap between their requirements and reality. We identify this gap in relation to the theory and practice of policy learning, and to multiple sectors, to show how it manifests in health, education, and gender equity policies. Second, a focus on territorial politics highlights how the problem is interpreted at different scales, subject to competing demands to take responsibility. This contestation and spread of responsibilities contributes to different policy approaches across spatial scales. We conclude that governments promote many separate equity initiatives, across territories and sectors, without knowing if they are complementary or contradictory. This outcome could reflect the fact that ambiguous policy problems and complex policymaking processes are beyond the full knowledge or control of governments. It could also be part of a strategy to make a rhetorically radical case while knowing that they will translate into safer policies. It allows them to replace debates on values, regarding whose definition of equity matters and which inequalities to tolerate, with more technical discussions of policy processes. Governments may be offering new perspectives on spatial justice or new ways to reduce political attention to inequalities.
Background The pursuit of policymaking integration and policy coherence represents the ultimate gap between aspiration and reality. Policy processes are too fragmented to produce coherent policies to address complex problems. Whole-of-government and joined-up-government are popular buzzwords that struggle for meaning and traction. How can policymakers and researchers address this problem? I searched multiple academic literatures for advice on policy coherence via policymaking integration. Methods A qualitative systematic review of 705 academic journal articles identified in two systematic reviews on ‘whole-of-government and joined-up government’ (WG/JUG, 340) and ‘policy integration’ (PI, 413), and snowballed texts in academic and grey literatures (65) (net total 770). I searched each text for advice on how to foster policymaking integration in the service of policy coherence. I used an immersive inductive approach, and policy theory insights, to identify common themes. Results Most accounts describe aspirations for integration and coherence. Few describe substantive progress. The literature describes requirements for integration and coherence and inevitable or routine policymaking barriers . This comparison of barriers and facilitators helps to inform a realistic approach, to combine managed expectations and practical advice. Conclusions Five themes of practical advice connect aspiration to limited progress. Explain what policymaking integration means, since a rhetorical commitment means nothing. Identify your rationale, model, and theory of change. Engage with trade-offs between top-down and bottom-up conceptions of policy coherence. Explain why the pursuit of integration has advantages over a reasonable alternative, such as specialisation. Learn about facilitators from studies of success and barriers from studies of failure. These lessons help to clarify your aims, connect them to routine government business, and ensure capacity to deliver. If this advice seems obvious, we should reflect on its lack of traction when governments lack the willingness and ability to follow it.
The pledge to Leave No One Behind is central to the 2030 Agenda and cuts across all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To realize this cross‐sectoral approach to inequality, policy coherence is considered an important tool. This article questions whether and how policy coherence leaves no one behind. We focus on the often‐overlooked politics of policy coherence by studying gender inequalities in institutions, interests, and ideas in subnational governance processes for SDG implementation in India. Our findings show that policy coherence does not automatically reach the furthest behind in India. Despite ambitions to Leave No One Behind, SDG policy coherence processes are built around pre‐existing, unequal and often siloed government structures, interests, and ideas. While this enhances national ownership, it also perpetuates inequalities in SDG policy coherence processes, including around gender. We argue that paradoxically, in seeking to implement all the SDGs equally for all, countries need to prioritize between competing goals in which historically prioritized institutions, interests, and ideas prevail over others. The article raises important questions about the universal applicability of policy coherence as means to achieve the SDGs and calls for further research on the synergies and trade‐offs between policy coherence and Leave No One Behind in different (sub)national contexts.
El campo de estudios de las políticas publicas ha tenido un desarrollo intenso desde que Harold Lasswell propuso en 1951 la creación de las Ciencias de Políticas de la Democracia. Su evolución se dio en buena medida por el impulso de su componente metodológico, pues a partir de él se construyeron maneras de entender, analizar, explicar e incidir en las variables que se consideran relevantes para las políticas, tanto en el plano teórico como en el empírico, siendo quizá el planteamiento del ciclo de políticas la herramienta más significativa que intentó articular el proceso de gobierno con una visión claramente sistémica.
En los hechos, las virtudes del ciclo se asumieron de manera ortodoxa como agenda de investigación y también como programa de la lógica instrumental (al menos en el plano formal) de las estrategias de gobierno, lo cual trajo como consecuencia que se limitaran los componentes de la ecuación analítica y poco se atendieran factores muy relevantes que condicionan el trayecto de una política.
Es en este punto crítico donde se coloca la presente obra, pues a partir de la colaboración de diversos especialistas se argumenta sobre la importancia de considerar miradas alternativas al ciclo para incorporar variables de estudio como la complejidad e incertidumbre de la realidad, la subjetividad en la toma de decisiones, las conexiones no evidentes o implícitas que hay entre distintas políticas o grupos de ellas, el peso de las instituciones informales, la correcta elección de los instrumentos que despliegan las políticas en acciones y su correspondiente integración, la reputación como cualidad del desempeño organizacional, la relevancia de los procesos de coordinación, así como la epistemología transdisciplinaria como marco analítico y metodológico.
Un elemento importante que debe puntualizarse es que el estudio de las variables mencionadas no se limitó únicamente a los planos teórico y metodológico, ya que un eje central de la obra es que la discusión se traslade en la medida de lo posible a casos de estudio (reales o hipotéticos) sobre México, razón por la cual se incluyen reflexiones sobre energías renovables, violencia obstétrica, soberanía alimentaria, microcréditos otorgados a personas que no participan del Sistema Financiero Mexicano, vivienda y seguridad pública.
Contenido
INTRODUCCIÓN
Maximiliano García Guzmán, Daniel Ortega Carmona y Jason Alexis Camacho Pérez
1. REPUTACIÓN ORGANIZACIONAL Y POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS
Edgar O. Bustos y Mauricio I. Dussauge Laguna
2. RELACIONES INTERGUBERNAMENTALES: ¿COMPETENCIA O COMPLEMENTARIEDAD?
Karla Galán Romero y Manuel Canto Chac
3. INSTRUMENTOS DE POLÍTICA PARA TRANSITAR A LA ENERGÍA RENOVABLE EN MÉXICO
Jesús Daniel Gómez Ramírez y Angélica Rosas Huerta
4. ENFOQUE DE INTEGRACIÓN EN POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS: EL SECTOR ALIMENTARIO EN MÉXICO
Tania Nayely Rivera Sánchez
5. VIOLENCIA OBSTÉTRICA: UN PROBLEMA PÚBLICO DE ÍNDOLE CONDUCTUAL
Abril Alejandra Cecilio Cruz
6. CAUSALIDAD MÚLTIPLE EN EL ANÁLISIS DE LAS POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS
Brayant Armando Vargas Hernández
7. EL ENFOQUE DE INTERCONECTIVIDAD DE POLÍTICAS. EL CASO DEL PROGRAMA DE MICROCRÉDITOS PARA EL BIENESTAR
Daniel Ortega Carmona, Jason Alexis Camacho Pérez y Maximiliano García Guzmán
The gender change is legally permitted by Transgender (Protection of Rights) Act 2018, where the use of self-perception for the gender change remains controversial. The self-perception relevance, suitablility and coherence has the legal policy impact on the future of transgender act.This qualitative research using semi-structured interviews is conducted,as part of policy evaluation with the thematic analysis through NVivo software showing implementation of self-perception test lacking coherency and relevancy. The results highligted that socio-cultural, biological conditions, Islamic injunctions and principles as the main considerations that all parties consider before permitting gender change.Future research on evaluation of the self-perception identity is recommended.
How functional relationships between policies influence policy design and policy change has received relatively limited attention within public policy scholarship despite the importance of policy coordination. This article contributes to addressing this gap by introducing the Anchoring Policies Perspective (APP), a framework for analysing interactions between policies in functional policy hierarchies. The APP examines how formal links between anchoring policies (AP) and functionally subordinate policies (SP) generate anchoring effects, whereby the provisions codified in APs generate alignment pressures that channel the design of SPs towards the norms and goals of the AP. In the article, we examine the analytical contribution of the APP by analysing the distinguishing characteristics of APs, the mechanisms through which APs influence SP introduction and design, and political strategies for managing situations where resistance occurs to the alignment of SPs with their APs. Examples from environmental and energy policy are used to illustrate key features of the AP-SP relationship, following which the APP’s contribution to public policy scholarship is discussed. We conclude by arguing that the APP has the potential to bring important new insights to the analysis of policy change while building connections with established theories of policy change to develop the APP framework further.
Since the 1990s, the structure of the Executive Branch in Peru tended to organize through the creation of specialized agencies in different sectors. This produced an organizational and functional fragmentation in the way public interventions are managed, substantially increasing the challenges of intra and intersectoral coordination and coherence in the management of public policies that political authorities must perform. This division of labor produces a management style that is unlikely to focus in an articulated way on the causes and solutions of public problems, particularly those that have a multi-causal dimension and require an intersectoral approach such as the policy of modernizing public management. This policy aims to introduce changes in the general rules that organize the management of public policies and organizations and has multiple actors involved in its design and execution. Some of them are ministerial divisions and agencies dependent on the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Finance, which are part of the center of government. To analyze the case of the modernization policy, semi-structured interviews were conducted to 13 managers and advisors in charge of directing, designing and implementing the respective policy, in addition to a review of the regulations and the different consultancy management reports. Most of the senior officials involved agreed that this policy has weak levels of coordination and limited coherence in the programs developed by the stakeholders of both sectors. This is reflected in the lack of a shared vision, the lack of mechanisms for exchanging information and rules of interaction between the stakeholders, and the diffuse awareness that the general objective of this public policy cannot be achieved if the institutional objectives of each actor are not aligned. The paradox is that these actors, as part of the center of government, have the coordination of priority public policies among their main functions. In this context, the agency model that promotes organizations mainly focused on an institutional objective, with greater administrative autonomy, seems to have contributed to a centrifugal logic in the development of this policy. The operation of these stakeholders is not aligned to the theoretical assumptions that support their prevalence in the current State structure.
The gender change is legally permitted by Transgender (Protection of Rights) Act 2018, where the use of self-perception for the gender change remains controversial. The self-perception relevance, suitablility and coherence has the legal policy impact on the future of transgender act.This qualitative research using semi-structured interviews is conducted,as part of policy evaluation with the thematic analysis through NVivo software showing implementation of self-perception test lacking coherency and relevancy. The results highligted that socio-cultural, biological conditions, Islamic injunctions and principles as the main considerations that all parties consider before permitting gender change.Future research on evaluation of the self-perception identity is recommended.
The public has become an important group of carbon emissions. Strengthening the synergy of guiding policies to promote the public to practice green behavior effectively is significant for achieving the “carbon peak and carbon neutrality” goals. This paper constructs a policy synergy framework based on the two stages of “formulation-implementation” and explores the impact mechanism of synergy on policy effectiveness. Firstly, this article quantifies the public green behavior guiding policy texts released from 2010 to 2021 and analyzes the policy synergy effects in the formulation stage. Secondly, based on the Bayesian network, this paper clarifies the obstacles of multi-agent collaboration in the implementation stage from the perspective of the public, central and local governments. The research finds that: (1) the implementation effect of green behavior guidance policies for the public in China varies depending on the synergistic effect of policy types. The overall coordination of the three policy measures and the coordination between policy departments have a significant positive promoting effect on promoting public practice of green behavior. (2) The impact of each parameter on the degree of collaboration of the policy execution system varies. The improvement of central government synergy indicators has a more significant impact on system synergy. (3) The improvement of the coordination degree of the policy execution system requires the synchronization of three subsystems, and only improving the coordination degree of individual subsystems cannot effectively improve the overall coordination effect of the policy execution system. In addition, enhancing the synergy between the central and local governments can most effectively enhance the overall system's synergy. Based on the objective of optimizing the policy system to encourage the public to practice green behavior, this paper provides a theoretical basis for formulating the public green behavior guiding policy.
The aim of this research is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of unilateral coercive measures on sustainable development processes in the Republic of Belarus, as well as their influence on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Belarus and the Union State.
Divided into three sections, the article begins by examining how Belarus has adapted its legal framework and state policy to conform to the 2030 Agenda. However, the use of unilateral coercive measures by the collective West to pressure and incentivize “appropriate” behavior, in contradiction of the decisions of the UN Security Council, diverts the country’s resources toward safeguarding its sovereignty and non-intervention in the aff airs of other states. The second section delves into the role of integration associations and the Union State in overcoming coercive restrictive measures. Finally, the third section sheds light on the impact of such measures on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Specifi cally, the sectoral sanctions imposed by the US and EU on Belarus in 2021 hinder the development of a common agricultural policy, as well as gas, oil, and petroleum markets of the Union State, while simultaneously creating a fi nancial rift between Belarus and Russia. This underscores the negative eff ects of these measures in the short term.
We argue that the social construction of target populations is an important, albeit overlooked, political phenomenon that should take its place in the study of public policy by political scientists. The theory contends that social constructions influence the policy agenda and the selection of policy tools, as well as the rationales that legitimate policy choices. Constructions become embedded in policy as messages that are absorbed by citizens and affect their orientations and participation. The theory is important because it helps explain why some groups are advantaged more than others independently of traditional notions of political power and how policy designs reinforce or alter such advantages. An understanding of social constructions of target populations augments conventional hypotheses about the dynamics of policy change, the determination of beneficiaries and losers, the reasons for differing levels and types of participation among target groups, and the role of policy in democracy.
Policy Design for Democracy is a theoretically sophisticated work that draws examples from a wide array of public policy arenas. It summarizes four current approaches to policy theory-pluralism, policy sciences, public choice, and critical theory-and shows how none offers more than a partial view of the policy design characteristics that support and perpetuate democracy. Schneider and Ingram then develop a theory of public policymaking predicated on understanding how differences in policy designs are related to differences in the contexts from which they emerge and how these designs have an impact on democracy.
Family policy has come of age in the 1990s, yet it has not achieved a status commensurate with that of economic or environmental policy. Because family policy has been difficult to define, this review proposes an explicit definition of the term family policy and a companion implicit term, a family perspective in policy making It updates the rationale for family policy, arguing that family commitment at its core is particularly consequential in an individualistic market economy with a small social safety net. It chronicles recent developments including philanthropic commitments, state and federal policy initiatives, and the use of research to inform family policy making. Selected family policy issues including family and work conflict, long-term care, family poverty, and marriage, are overviewed. The paper concludes with developments during the decade in theory, methods, and dissemination that hold the potential for capitalizing on the current popularity of families as a theme in policy making.
Much of the British and European literature on the role of interest groups in the policy process focuses on their participation in policy networks of various types. Possibly reflecting the original development of the policy community and policy network 'models' in the late 1970s, these approaches tend to emphasize stability and continuity - of both networks and policies. However, the 1980s and 1990s have witnessed much policy change and instability in most Western European states. In particular, some governments have adopted a more impositional policy style, and interest groups have learned to exploit the opportunities presented by a policy process which is increasingly characterized by multiple opportunity structures. This is especially the case following Europeanization of many policy sectors within the fifteen EU member states. The article focuses on the possible causes of policy change, including the importance of state power; changes in the behaviour of interest groups as they adjust to and exploit the opportunities presented by multi-arena policy-making; the impact of new policy fashions, reflecting knowledge and ideas which can act as a virus-like threat to existing policy communities.
The author maintains that American politics, institutional arrangements, and political culture have prevented the development of a comprehensive, integrated, intermodal transportation policy in the United States. Dilger makes his argument by examining the development of the national governmental authority in both surface and air transportation. Each transportation mode—highways/mass transit, Amtrak, and civilian air transportation—is examined separately, assessing their development over time and focusing on current controversies, including, but not limited to, the highway versus mass transit funding issue; the recent decentralization of decision making authority on surface transportation policy; Amtrak's viability as an alternative to the automobile; and current antiterrorist policies' effect on transportation policy.
Sociologists interested in politics have increasingly turned in recent years to the study of policy domains—components of the political system organized around substantive issues. This review focuses on the process leading to legislative enactment of policy change and assesses issues and findings in three aspects of the political process: agenda setting. the development of policy proposals, and the struggle for adoption of particular proposals. Quite a bit is known about adoption of proposals, but relatively little work has been done on agenda setting, and the task of understanding the development of policy proposals has barely begun. Policy change is affected most directly by formal organizations whose activities are channeled and given meaning by culture; government organizations play an active role in formulating policy and deciding how it will be implemented as well.
This article describes key Clinton administration initiatives in education and the framework that underlies them. It then addresses four aspects of intergovernmental relationships highlighted by current federal policy: an emphasis on policy coherence within and across governments; the emerging importance of “national,” as opposed to federal, policy leadership; the acceptance of the key role of states in education policy; and, perhaps, more stability in the federal system related to the convergence of policy at all levels around results or outcomes.
Congress in the mid-1990s remains the object of voter discontent. Public outcries against special interests and unresponsive incumbents have amplified an already pervasive skepticism toward Beltway politics. And while Congress continues to conduct its business, William Browne argues that it is no longer business as usual. Browne opens up the inner sanctums of Congress to reveal how that institution's daily operations-i.e., its policymaking processes-have changed dramatically. He argues that Congress is no longer dominated by party and committee power-brokers, large organized interest groups, or intrusive federal agencies. Instead, he contends, congressional members are driven largely by grassroots issues and constituent interests. This shift occurred in response to reforms that diluted the congressional seniority system and empowered the rank-and-file to exert greater influence in policymaking. More members now generate more issues much earlier in that process, resulting in a greater diversity of views in previously entrenched policy domains, but also greater disorganization and less predictability. Those changes are nowhere more apparent than in the ever shifting arena of agricultural policymaking, which, as the single largest contributor to our GNP, remains a central part of American politics. As agriculture has become more fragmented, globalized, and environmentally aware, agricultural policymaking has grown increasingly complex. In the process, a cacophony of constituent policy demands has altered the way congressional members "play the game." Browne reveals exactly how that new game is played. Based on nearly 450 interviews with members of Congress, their staff, agency administrators, and lobbyists, Browne's study is timed to appear during the 1995 Congressional debates over a major new agriculture bill. His book should become a major resource for congressional staff, journalists, political scientists, economists, lobbyists, and policy administrators for understanding those debates. "
So far, the Bush administration has begun to redirect policies on international family planning, climate stabilization, renewable energy R&D, wilderness protection, endangered species protection, air and water quality standards, nuclear waste clean-up, environmental law enforcement, mining regulations, worker injury compensation, community right-to-know initiatives, drinking water standards, and food safety procedures. And that was just the first four months. WORLD WATCH presents a timeline of the administration's emerging environmental agenda.
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The focus of this paper is on the processes by which change occurs in the structure and membership of policy subsystem coalitions. Employing longitudinal data derived from content analysis of congressional hearings, we examine expressed policy beliefs of organizational elites in the highly charged policy debate waged over outer continental shelf energy leasing from 1969 to 1987. Using the stated policy positions of representatives of organizations that are regular participants in the subsystem, we analyze differences in the level of constraint evident on the expression of policy positions by representatives of purposive and material groups. We then analyze the content and stability of advocacy coalitions within the policy subsystem, assessing the membership of coalitions and tracking defections to and from coalitions over the 1969-87 time period. Finally, we employ interrupted time series regression models, corrected for autocorrelation, to analyze the origins of defection from and to advocacy coalitions by the U.S. Department of Interior. Overall, our intent is to explain the internal workings of subsystems--and their responsiveness to exogenous events--in a highly polarized policy dispute in a manner that helps integrate our understanding of subsystem dynamics with theories of group representation and principal-agent behavior.
Can an integrated environmental management approach be effectively implemented in light of the many barriers to its success? Barry G. Rabe examines a case that suggests that it can. The transfer of pollutants across the medium boundaries of air, land, and water is an increasingly evident by-product of the fragmented environmental regulatory systems employed in the United States and Canada. Recent developments in the Great Lakes Basin suggest that significant steps toward integration are being attempted through a variety of mechanisms. Examination of these developments indicates that regulatory integration may be more politically and administratively feasible than conventionally accepted.
This article describes key Clinton administration initiatives in education and the framework that underlies them. It then addresses four aspects of intergovernmental relationships highlighted by current federal policy: an emphasis on policy coherence within and across governments; the emerging importance of “national,” as opposed to federal, policy leadership; the acceptance of the key role of states in education policy; and, perhaps, more stability in the federal system related to the convergence of policy at all levels around results or outcomes.
A theory of conflict-expansion and issue-redefinition is used to explain jurisdictional changes among congressional committees. Strict rules regulate the jurisdictions of committees considering legislation, but greater freedom is allowed in nonlegislative hearings. Therefore entrepreneurial committee and subcommittee chairs will use nonlegislative hearings to claim future jurisdiction over new issues and to force recalcitrant rival committees to take action they might not otherwise take. All committee hearings from 1945 to 1986 covering drug abuse, nuclear power, pesticides, and smoking are analyzed using various statistical techniques. Interviews with committee staff supplement the analysis. Both legislative and nonlegislative hearings are shown to be subject to considerable jurisdictional change over time. Nonlegislative hearings are shown to be particularly important in the process of issue-redefinition and in the efforts of legislative entrepreneurs to encroach on established jurisdictions of other committees.
President Carter will perhaps be remembered most for his perceived incompetence, an impression produced largely by his inability to forge coalitions in Congress, and by his failure as an ‘outsider’ to intervene effectively in the established policy-making processes in Washington. In his farewell address, Carter alluded to what he believed to be the source of his troubles – the fragmentation of power and decision-making exploited by influential special interests. Carter believed that he was trapped in a web of organized groups allied with well-placed congressional and bureaucratic sympathizers seeking to protect their narrowly defined interests and frustrating his own broader vision of the public good.
Using extensive interview and committee testimony data across two contrasting sets of interests (environmental and labor), this article exaines the effects of changing House institutional structure on legislative lobbying. Specifically, I argue that the institutional context of the posreform House has altered the role of lobbyists as information providers by expanding the scope of the conflict to different committees, forcing groups to lobby a wider variety of legislative actors. Relying upon a ditinction between ‘technical’ and ‘political’ information, I contend that the effect of decentralizing reforms is strengthened or attenuated by the informational focus of the interest group. Using longitudinal committee testimony data (1959-92) for ten groups, I show that the mid-1970s House reforms had differential effects on environmental groups and labor unions-in part, depending on group informational focus. The results have implications for studies of lobbying tactics, theories of information provision, and models of legislative institutional structure.
Using extensive interview and committee testimony data across two contrasting sets of interests (environmental and labor), this article examines the effects of changing House institutional structure on legislative lobbying. Specifically I argue that the institutional context of the postreform House has altered the role of lobbyists as information providers by expanding the scope of the conflict to different committees, forcing groups to lobby a wider variety of legislative actors. Relying upon a distinction between 'technical' and 'political' information, I contend that the effect of decentralizing reforms is strengthened or attenuated by the informational focus of the interest group. Using longitudinal committee testimony data (1959-92) for ten groups, I show that the mid-1970s House reforms had differential effects on environmental groups and labor unions-in part, depending on group informational focus. The results have implications for studies of lobbying tactics, theories of information provision, and models of legislative institutional structure.
A wavering equilibrium theory of subsystem politics is developed to distinguish between three types of subsystem politics. I suggest that subsystem players' ability to control the policy agenda varies with changes in subsystem politics. This article uses correlation analysis with data on bill sponsorship and referral to examine the impact of subsystem variation on policy making in three subsystems. I find that subsystem political variation is associated with changes in subsystem players' ability to control bill introduction and referral.
Sociologists interested in politics have increasingly turned in recent years to the study of policy domains—components of the political system organized around substantive issues. This review focuses on the process leading to legislative enactment of policy change and assesses issues and findings in three aspects of the political process: agenda setting. the development of policy proposals, and the struggle for adoption of particular proposals. Quite a bit is known about adoption of proposals, but relatively little work has been done on agenda setting, and the task of understanding the development of policy proposals has barely begun. Policy change is affected most directly by formal organizations whose activities are channeled and given meaning by culture; government organizations play an active role in formulating policy and deciding how it will be implemented as well.
One of the emerging areas in the public policy literature concerns new modes of thought about the construction and analysis of public policy. This article extends notions about politics within the ‘policy design’ literature by considering the implications of different political environments for policy design and implementation. Two different political environments – policies with and without publics – that form ends of a continuum of policy publics are discussed. A contrast is drawn between these two polar political environments with respect to differing policy design and implementation challenges, as well as with respect to differing opportunities for policy learning.
The past several decades have seen the rise of two movements, the disability rights movement and the women's movement, with parallel concerns, histories, organizational issues, and other attributes. This article examines the philosophies of the two movements and their significance for the policymaking process. For example, both have struggled with the issues of difference versus equality in determining public policy; both stress the importance of considering problems to reside not in personal characteristics but in interactions with the environment. The article traces these and other similarities in ways of looking at policy problems between the women's movement and the disability movement, examines how these similarities reveal a fundamentally different view of policymaking, compares this philosophy with basic tenets of the Clinton administration, as expressed by key policymakers, and discusses what policy would look like if these changes occurred.
Policy scholars have noted that bureaucrats can play an important role in defining policy alternatives. Few studies, however, examine the extent of their involvement in this process. This study contributes to public policy scholarship by offering a framework for understanding the strength of bureaucratic involvement in the process of defining problems and policy alternatives. Using witness data from congressional hearings on crime between 1947 and 1998, I find that federal, state, and local criminal justice bureaucrats have come to occupy a central role in the process of defining policy alternatives. In addition, I find that the centrality of criminal justice actors comes at the expense of interest groups, community organizations, and citizens/victims. Implications for criminal justice policy and understanding bureaucratic involvement in the policy process are discussed.
This research extends theorizing about the implications of political environments to the content of policy areas. We consider the case of Arctic policy in Canada and the United States as an example of what we label as component-driven policymaking. We show how the lack of a clear constituency and the lack of a stable policy subsystem for the Arctic create a policy environment for which the politics of particular issues dominate Arctic policymaking. The result is a policy space labeled Arctic policy that lacks policy coherence. We suggest that similar features of component-based policymaking help explain limited policy coherence for a variety of policy areas such as policies for children, families, rural areas, urban areas, and women in the United States.
Research on coalitions in the policy process has found evidence of both short-term and long-term coalitions. Two possible methodological reasons for the varied results are that (1) there has been little systematic longitudinal research on the topic, and (2) most scholars have not distinguished situations where fundamental versus secondary interests are at stake. This article addresses both points by first applying the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), which distinguishes fundamental from secondary beliefs/interests, and then performing a quantitative analysis of the content of organizations’ testimonies regarding automotive pollution control over 26 years. Consistent with the ACF, we find that coalitions of interest groups, legislators, local governments, and agencies are relatively stable over time, despite two potentially disruptive events—the 1973–74 Oil Embargo and the 1980 Elections. On the other hand, there is little support for the ACF's hypothesis that broader beliefs will be more stable than narrower secondary beliefs. Our systematic methodology also enables us to separate the general pattern of stability from interesting exceptions of instability.
Despite the increasing constriction of immigrants' rights at the federal level, local responses have been much more varied, countering, compensating for, even transforming policies originating from the national core. This article attributes this divergence in part to the multi-layered, ambiguous, and contradictory structure of the U.S. nation-state in the context of a transnational economy and society. It shows how three facets of state structural complexity-its multiple levels, diverse administrative branches, and decentralized agencies-have created openings for local actors, deploying normative arguments as to the issues at stake, to reshape the outcomes of U.S. immigration policy on the ground.
Environmental regulatory fragmentation along the medium boundaries of air, land, and water in Canada and the United States serves to skiff pollutants from medium to medium rather than contain or eliminate them. This pattern is particularly evident in the Great Lakes Basin where many of the most pressing environmental problems stem from pollutant transfer across medium or jurisdictional lines. The impediments to more integrated environmental regulation remain considerable in the Basin, and include the enduring single-medium orientation of federal programs and limitations of state, provincial, or regional innovation. Nonetheless, there is growing indication that regulatory integration need not be dismissed as a theoretical nicety but political impossibility. A series of recent developments indicate a shift toward greater integration in the Basin, prompted in large part by environmental policy professionals who increasingly recognize the limitations of current approaches and are willing to devise alternatives. These developments are occurring at the regional as well as state and provincial levels, and they give far greater definition than ever before to the idea of integrated environmental regulation.
In this innovative account of the way policy issues rise and fall on the national agendaâthe first detailed study of so many issues over an extended periodâFrank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones show that rapid change not only can but does happen in the hidebound institutions of government. Short-term, single-issue analyses of public policy, the authors contend, give a narrow and distorted view of public policy as the result of a cozy arrangement between politicians, interest groups, and the media. Baumgartner and Jones upset these notions by focusing on several issuesâincluding civilian nuclear power, urban affairs, smoking, and auto safetyâover a much longer period of time to reveal patterns of stability alternating with bursts of rapid, unpredictable change. A welcome corrective to conventional political wisdom, Agendas and Instability revises our understanding of the dynamics of agenda-setting and clarifies a subject at the very center of the study of American politics.
While governmental policies and institutions may remain more or less the same for years, they can also change suddenly and unpredictably in response to new political agendas and crises. What causes stability or change in the political system? What role do political institutions play in this process? To investigate these questions, Policy Dynamics draws on the most extensive data set yet compiled for public policy issues in the United States. Spanning the past half-century, these data make it possible to trace policies and legislation, public and media attention to them, and governmental decisions over time and across institutions. Some chapters analyze particular policy areas, such as health care, national security, and immigration, while others focus on institutional questions such as congressional procedures and agendas and the differing responses by Congress and the Supreme Court to new issues. Policy Dynamics presents a radical vision of how the federal government evolves in response to new challenges-and the research tools that others may use to critique or extend that vision.
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