Policy capacity and the ability to adapt to climate change: Canadian and U.S. case studies

This special issue contributes to extant empirical scholarship assessing governmental capacity to meet significant policy challenges, in this case those related to climate change adaptation. The study includes detailed examination of five policy sectors---finance, infrastructure, energy, forestry, and transportation--in two countries, Canada and the United States--in order to determine what kinds of governance arrangements and analytical capacities exist in this area, how they are changing (if at all), and how they interrelate with the status and evolution of climate change outcomes in each sector. The articles provide a comprehensive sampling of policy network structure and behavior, organizational mandates and resources, and actual job duties and training of policy actors across these sectors at both the federal and subnational level of government. KEY WORDS: policy capacity, climate change, climate change adaptation, comparative public policy, policy networks, organizational mandates, policy work
Introduction: Shifts in Climate Change Policy Mandates and Their Evaluation As governments shift from climate change mitigation efforts to approaches aimed at adaptation, the policy design and implementation challenges they [...]