| 1. |
- Bendz, Anna, 1967
(författare)
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Paying Attention to Politics. Public Responsiveness and Welfare Policy Change.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Policy Studies Journal. - : Wiley. - 0190-292X .- 1541-0072. ; 43:3, s. 309-332
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In order for the democratic process to work properly, it is vital that the public pays attention to politics and signals its opinions and preferences back to its representatives; if this is not the case, representatives have less incentive to represent. This article deals with the question of whether and how the public responds to welfare policy change. The thermostatic model departs from the assumption that the public responds to policy change with negative feedback, in relation to its preferred level of policy. The empirical analysis tests this model on public responses following the implementation of a consumer’s choice model in Swedish primary health care. Did the reform trigger a thermostatic response from the public, and how should this be interpreted? A contribution in relation to previous research is the inclusion of ideological orientation and proximity, variables which, I argue, condition the nature and direction of public responsiveness. The study was designed as a natural experiment in which preferences of privatization of health care were measured before and after the health care reform of 2009/2010. The results provide partial support for the thermostatic model: preferences for further privatization decrease after the reform, but primarily within one subgroup. Additionally, public responses are demonstrated to vary according to ideological orientation, where the right-oriented react thermostatically and the left-oriented do not. The article contributes to a further understanding of the relation between policy making and public opinion and to the expansion of thermostatic theory.
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| 2. |
- Bodin, Örjan, et al.
(författare)
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Collaborative Networks for Effective Ecosystem-Based Management : A Set of Working Hypotheses
- 2017
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Ingår i: Policy Studies Journal. - : Wiley. - 0190-292X .- 1541-0072. ; 45:2, s. 289-314
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ecosystem-based management (EBM) represents a comprehensive approach to better govern the environment that also illustrates the collaborative trend in policy and public administration. The need for stakeholder involvement and collaboration is strongly articulated, yet how and for what purposes collaboration would be effective remains largely untested. We address this gap by developing and evaluating a set of hypotheses specifying how certain patterns of collaborations among actors affect their joint ability to accomplish EBM. Content analyses of management plans drawn from five EBM planning processes in Sweden are combined with analyses of the collaborative networks through which these plans have been developed. Our results indicate that system thinking and the ability to integrate across different management phases are favored by collaborations between different kinds of actors, and by project leaders being centrally located in the networks. We also find that dense substructures of collaboration increase the level of specificity in the plans in regards to explicating constraints on human activities. Having many collaborative ties does however not enhance the overall level of specificity. Our results also show that different network characteristics can give rise to similar EBM outcomes. This observed equifinality suggests there is no single blueprint for well-performing collaborative networks.
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| 3. |
- Hileman, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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Balancing Costs and Benefits of Collaboration in an Ecology of Games
- 2019
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Ingår i: Policy Studies Journal. - : Wiley. - 0190-292X .- 1541-0072. ; 47:1, s. 138-158
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The growth of collaborative approaches to governance has resulted in increasingly complex policy and management landscapes, where actors are presented with ever-increasing numbers of decision-making venues they can participate in and actors they can collaborate with. Given that actors face constraints on their capacity to manage actor and venue relationships in such polycentric governance systems, we assume the marginal benefit of yet another relationship should begin to diminish at some level of engagement. Furthermore, we hypothesize that such capacity limitations are not static, but decrease as actors learn, develop skills, and formulate strategies for how to navigate complex polycentric systems more effectively. Drawing on the Ecology of Games framework, this article investigates two Swedish collaborative governance initiatives where a multitude of actors came together to address a range of different, but interrelated, policy issues and management tasks. The empirical findings suggest that actors' capacities to successfully navigate polycentric governance arrangements increase as they gain experience and develop their networking skills. Our findings imply there is a need to balance increased complexity in polycentric systems with increased capacity, otherwise the overall effect of an ever-increasing number of venues and actors could be collaborative fatigue and decreased abilities to address diverse governance challenges.
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| 4. |
- Mancilla García, María, et al.
(författare)
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Participation in Multiple Decision Making Water Governance Forums in Brazil Enhances Actors’ Perceived Level of Influence
- 2019
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Ingår i: Policy Studies Journal. - : Wiley. - 0190-292X .- 1541-0072. ; 47:1, s. 27-51
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Ecology of Games Framework (EGF) draws attention to the intertwined nature of different forums in a given policy setting and how this affects governance outcomes. In this article, we associate the EGF with the literature on power asymmetries, in order to investigate hypotheses of actors’ perceived level of influence in a forum. Focusing on the Paraíba do Sul river basin committee in Brazil, we specifically explore actors’ participation in multiple forums, time spent participating in the basin committee, and actors’ degree of involvement in the committee as factors that might explain actors’ level of perceived influence in the forum. The findings suggest participation in multiple forums is a key driver of perceived influence and thus highlight a way to challenge traditional power asymmetries. More research, however, is needed to determine to what extent perceived influence is affecting decision-making processes and governance outcomes in the Paraíba do Sul river basin committee.
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| 5. |
- Öberg, PerOla, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Political Power and Policy Design : Why Are Policy Alternatives Constrained?
- 2015
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Ingår i: Policy Studies Journal. - Hoboken : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0190-292X .- 1541-0072. ; 43:1, s. 93-114
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Little research examines the stage of the policy process during which policy alternatives are formulated. Using quantitative and qualitative data from Swedish local politics, we address this deficiency by analyzing the process by which the number of specific policy alternatives is reduced. The findings suggest that, in approximately 20 percent of issues, more than one alternative will reach all politicians making the binding decisions. Most local politicians, in both the majority and opposition factions, think that they lack sufficient information on alternative policy designs. We also find a “political bias,” that is, alternatives are discarded at an early stage because they are deemed not politically feasible. Politicians outside the inner circles, especially those with higher education, would like to see more policy alternatives to discuss and from which they can make choices.
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