Linking Policy Networks and Environmental Policies: Nitrate Policy Making in Denmark and Sweden 1970‐1995
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9299.00101 |
| Date | 01 June 1998 |
| Author | Carsten Daugbjerg |
| Published date | 01 June 1998 |
LINKING POLICY NETWORKS AND
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES: NITRATE
POLICY MAKING IN DENMARK AND SWEDEN
1970–1995
CARSTEN DAUGBJERG
The policy network literature has provided important insight into the way in which
public policy is made in Western societies. Most network studies have focused on
processes within networks and have paid little attention to the conceptualization of
policy outcomes and the theoretical link between network type and policy type.
This article defines and categorizes environmental policy and suggests a proposition
on the link between network types and environmental policy types. It is argued
that the existence of tight and closed policy communities in sectors subject to
environmental regulation is associated with the introduction of low cost environ-
mental policies. In contrast, open and loose issue networks are associated with high
cost environmental policies.
INTRODUCTION
Policy networks affect policy outcomes! This statement is the whole raison
d’e
ˆtre of the British policy network literature: if networks do not affect pol-
icy outcomes, there is little justification for studying them. Most network
studies are concerned with describing or modelling network processes
rather than exploring the theoretical relationship between policy networks
and policy outcomes. Surprisingly, network analysts fail to unpack the con-
cept of policy outcomes. This is somewhat of a paradox given that network
analysis aims to establish the relationship between policy networks and
policy outcomes in order to show that policy networks make a difference
in the making of public policy. Since the concept of policy outcomes has not
been unpacked and categorized, network analysts have produced relatively
weak arguments on the theoretical link between policy networks and policy
outcomes. As a result, network analysts have not convincingly shown the
importance of the network concept in public policy analysis. To demon-
strate the importance of the concept, this article attempts to conceptualize
and categorize public policy and to establish a causal link between network
types and policy types.
Carsten Daugbjerg is a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Public Administration Vol. 76 Summer 1998 (275–294)
Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street,
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276 CARSTEN DAUGBJERG
This weakness in the literature is perhaps what motivated Dowding
(1995) to launch a heavy attack on policy network analysis. He claims that
it is incapable of providing an explanation. Dowding’s criticism means that
network analysts must more convincingly establish the ways in which pol-
icy networks influence policy outcomes. The first step in this task involves
the conceptualization and categorization of policy outcomes. The second
step is to establish the causal relationship between network types and pol-
icy types. If such a link can be developed, the overall argument of network
analysis, which is that policy networks affect policy outcomes, will be
strengthened. Furthermore, if the causal linkage can be supported by
empirical evidence brought about by the use of the comparative case study
method, the argument would be even more robust.
Focusing on environmental policy making, this article attempts to answer
the questions: (i) how can environmental policy outcomes be defined and
categorized and (ii) how can they theoretically be linked with policy net-
works? The article is divided into five sections. The first section identifies
the limitations of the British policy network literature as regards the
relations between networks and policy outcomes. The second section
accounts for the components of public policies, and the third section draws
on the policy instrument literature to develop a categorization of environ-
mental policy choices. The fourth section develops a proposition about the
relationship between policy networks and policy choices. It is argued that
when a tight and closed policy community exists within the sector subject
to environmental regulation, policy makers tend to introduce a low cost
environmental policy which passes the economic and political costs of regu-
lation on to groups other than polluters. In contrast, if there is a loose and
open issue network, the use of high cost environmental policies is more
likely. Such a policy inflicts costs on polluters. The final section draws on
material from a comparative case study of agri-environmental policy mak-
ing in Denmark and Sweden to support the proposition.
POLICY NETWORKS AND POLICY OUTCOMES: A REVIEW OF
THE BRITISH LITERATURE
There are several approaches which apply the concepts of policy networks
and sub-governments to describe the relationship between political actors
involved in public policy making (see Daugbjerg 1998a, ch.1 for a review
of the network literature). Since the British network tradition is most con-
cerned with the relationship between networks and outcomes, I shall focus
on that tradition here.
Although the most quoted definition of a policy network may need to
be updated to account for the roles of ideology, values, policy principles,
etc., it actually highlights an important feature of a network: resource inter-
dependency among actors. Following Benson (1982, p. 148) many network
analysts define a network as: ‘. . . a cluster or complex of organizations
connected to each other by resource dependencies and distinguished from
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