Search

Gaps between public policy goals and the state of the environment are often significant. However, while goal failures in environmental governance are studied in a number of disciplines, the knowledge on the various causes behind delayed goal achievement is still incomplete. In this article we propose a new framework for analysis of delay mechanisms in science and policy, with the intention to provide a complementary lens for describing, analysing and counteracting delay in environmental governance. The framework is based on case-study findings from recent research focusing on goal-failures in policies for climate change, hazardous chemicals, biodiversity loss and eutrophication. It is also related to previous research on science and policy processes and their interactions. We exemplify the framework with two delay mechanisms that we consider particularly important to highlight—denial of science and decision thresholds. We call for further research in the field, for development of the framework, and not least for increased attention to delay mechanisms in environmental policy review and development on national as well as international levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper seeks to advance neo-institutional work that has traditionally portrayed environmental and social protection policies as constraints followed by businesses. Drawing from the policy sciences literature, we propose that in the United States, businesses tend to show increasing resistance as the protective policy process moves from initiation to selection and growing cooperation thereafter. Most importantly, we also contribute to the neo-institutional theory literature by positing that this inverted U-shaped policy process–business response relationship proposed for the U.S. context may be moderated by variations in the level of democracy, system of interest representation, regulatory approach, and national income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests that the application of social marketing principles to the public policy process can facilitate the efforts of governmental policy-makers and non-governmental stake-holders to articulate their policy desires and to encourage the adoption and acceptance of particular environmental policies. A conceptual framework is presented, emphasizing both the influence of stakeholders on environmental policy development and the education of stake-holders as to the potential effects of the policy. The purpose of such a conceptualization is to show how social marketing principles can be applied to the public policy process in order to enhance the likelihood of successful policy development and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal models, most of them implemented with computers, play a critically important role in the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental regulatory policy. As in the social sciences, some of these models serve as research tools which arc useful in developing and testing theoretical insight. But a large set of models are used directly in the day-to-day processes of impact assessment, policy-formulation, and most importantly, regulatory enforcement. This paper is not a systematic literature review of models used in environmental impact assessment. Such a review would require a book-length manuscript and would probably not serve the needs of most readers of Policy Sciences. Instead we construct a conceptual framework for classifying and thinking about environmental impact assessment models. We discuss the major model types and attempt to identify and explore some of their limitations and problems, particularly as these models relate to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental regulatory policy. We summarize the major policy approaches to environmental control and talk very briefly about how models are used and misused in the development and implementation of environmental policy. Finally, we attempt to identify and discuss areas in this field where we believe that policy-oriented social science researchers might make important future contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]