Discussions of policy networks are becoming increasingly common in the analysis of public policy in the Western world. This book addresses the key theoretical issues surrounding policy networks.

The United States, Germany, and Japan, the world's three most powerful and successful free market societies, differ strikingly in how their governments relate to their economies. Comparing Policy Networks reports the results of collaborative research by three teams investigating the social organization and policymaking processes of national labor policy domains in the United States, Germany, and Japan during the 1980s. Through interviews with more than 350 key labor policy organizations in all three countries, the authors reveal similar conflict divisions between business and labor interests but also distinctive patterns within each nation.

This book examines how labor policies were made in the US, Germany, and Japan during the 1980s.

The study of comparative public policy reveals the intensely political nature of policy choices. While policy analysts often look to policy successes and failures outside their borders to draw valuable lessons and insights, cultural, economic, political, and institutional conditions vary from country to country and strongly affect how policy analysis is ultimately used. By combining a conceptual discussion of policy making with an examination of seven specific policy areas, Jessica Adolino and Charles Blake show how politics—in the realm of the environment, education, taxation, economics, immigration, health care, and social welfare—shapes policy choices. The second edition of Comparing Public Policies has been revised and updated to reflect the most recent political and policy developments. This new edition expands coverage of the internationalization of domestic policy making by including a European Union case study in each issue area, along with further discussion of the role of international interest groups in the policy process. The seven policy chapters have been revised and updated to examine current issues in the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the European Union, such as: the heightened calls for immigration policy reform the return to higher budget deficits in several countries the efforts to lower tax rates in countries with falling expenditures and in countries with rising spending levels the often unsuccessful attempts to control increasing health care costs in countries with aging populations the spirited debate over the future role of the welfare state in an increasingly globalized economy the, at times, divergent education reform debates regarding the role of assessment and calls for decentralization the uneven environmental performance in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions Chapters include analyses of crossnational trends—past and present—and a final chapter reexamines the internationalization of public policy in industrialized countries. Useful pedagogical features have been incorporated throughout the text, including "In Depth" boxes that offer detailed discussion of the political process or analytical techniques, and "Country At-a-Glance" boxes that provide quick reference to political institutions. A wealth of recent data is displayed in numerous tables and a glossary gives students a practical guide to terminology.

This book compares network governance practices and public service delivery in England and China. Adopting a political ethnographic approach, it assesses whether networked forms of governance are used in provision of care for the elderly and those with learning disabilities in the two countries. It also examines several concepts from network governance theory - including interdependence and resource exchange, trust and reciprocity, and diplomatic skills - in the context of English and Chinese local state engagement with NGOs providing and managing care. Perhaps surprisingly, the book argues that there are more similarities than differences in network governance practices in England and China. It will appeal to all those interested in network governance theory, public administration and comparative politics.

Table of Contents Tables, Figures, and Boxes ix Preface xi An Introduction to Comparative Public Policy 1 The Increasing Internationalization of Public Policy 4 The Organization of This Book 6 1 The Policy Process 1 The Study of the Policy Process 8 The Policy Process Revisited 28 2 Theories of Policy Making 31 The Cultural School 31 The Economic School 34 The Political School 38 The Institutional School 41 An Eclectic Approach to Examining Policy Theories 45 3 Political and Economic Dynamics in Industrialized Countries 47 Social Cleavage 47 Interest Groups 48 Political Parties and Party Systems 51 Voting Behavior 55 Electoral Systems 59 Executive-Legislative Relations 63 Intergovernmental Relations 67 The Bureaucracy 69 The Judiciary 70 Economic Dynamics 71 4 The Policy-making Context 77 The United States 77 Japan 80 Germany 83 France 86 The United Kingdom 89 Italy 92 European Union 95 5 Immigration Policy 100 Common Policy Problems 100 Major Policy Options 103 Explaining Policy Dynamics 104 International Policy Making 109 United States 111 Japan 118 Germany 123 France 129 United Kingdom 134 Italy 140 European Union 146 Cross-national Trends 150 6 Fiscal Policy 159 Common Policy Problems 159 Major Policy Options 161 Explaining Policy Dynamics 163 Internafional Policy Making 167 United States 169 Japan 174 Germany 177 France 180 United Kingdom 183 Italy 186 European Union 189 Cross-national Trends 192 7 Taxation Policy 198 Common Policy Problems 198 Major Policy Options 200 Explaining Policy Dynamics 203 International Policy Making 206 United States 207 Japan 211 Germany 214 France 217 United Kingdom 219 Italy 222 European Union 225 Cross-national Trends 229 8 Health Care Policy 234 Common Policy Problems 234 Major Policy Options 235 Explaining Policy Dynamics 239 International Policy Making 242 United States 243 Japan 249 Germany 253 France 257 United Kingdom 262 Italy 266 European Union 270 Cross-national Trends 273 9 Social Policy 278 Common Policy Problems 278 Major Policy Options 281 Explaining Policy Dynamics 283 International Policy Making 287 United States 287 Japan 293 Germany 296 France 301 United Kingdom 305 Italy 309 European Union 313 Cross-national Trends 315 10 Education Policy 321 Common Policy Problems 321 Major Policy Options 322 Explaining Policy Dynamics 326 International Policy Making 329 United States 329 Japan 334 Germany 338 France 342 United Kingdom 346 Italy 351 European Union 355 Cross-national Trends 358 11 Environmental Policy 364 Common Policy Problems 364 Major Policy Options 366 Explaining Policy Dynamics 369 International Policy Making 372 United States 373 Japan 379 Germany 383 France 388 United Kingdom 392 Italy 396 European Union 401 Cross-national Trends 405 12 Conclusion 412 Contemporary Trends 412 Learning Lessons by Comparing Policies 417 Glossary 419 References 429 Index 441.

Social network analysis provides a meaningful lens for advancing a more nuanced understanding of the communication networks and practices that bring together policy advocates and practitioners in their day-to-day efforts to broker evidence into policymaking processes. This book advances knowledge brokerage scholarship and methodology as applied to policymaking contexts, focusing on the ways in which knowledge and research are utilized, and go on to influence policy and practice decisions across domains, including communication, health and education. There is a growing recognition that knowledge brokers – key intermediaries – have an important role in calling attention to research evidence that can facilitate the successful implementation of evidence-informed policies and practices. The chapters in this volume focus explicitly on the history of knowledge brokerage research in these contexts and the frameworks and methodologies that bridge these disparate domains. The contributors to this volume offer useful typologies of knowledge brokerage and explicate the range of causal mechanisms that enable knowledge brokers’ influence on policymaking. The work included in this volume responds to this emerging interest by comparing, assessing, and delineating social network approaches to knowledge brokerage across domains. The book is a useful resource for students and scholars of social network analysis and policymaking, including in health, communication, public policy and education policy.

The book examines a new concern in water quality policy, namely aquatic micropollutants. Micropollutants are chemicals detected in small concentrations in waterbodies today, originating from pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, or detergents, among others. Since the regulation of micropollutants is a fairly new issue, it has been largely neglected in social sciences. However, the search for appropriate solutions is of high political relevance at both the national and international levels, with many open questions arising that concern the most adequate governance structures and steering mechanisms. Solutions suitable for classical, macro-pollutants, such as nutrients, do not necessarily apply to micropollutants because of the diversity of compounds and sources, and for technical, financial, and societal reasons. The book addresses this knowledge gap by investigating the steering mechanisms at hand and their prospect for problem solving. In this regard, the research provides a systematic depiction and comparison of policy designs in place for the reduction of micropollutants in the Rhine basin. Moreover, the study yields insights into the governance structures in place, into actors’ responsibilities and constellations, and policy processes regarding micropollutants. The study is furthermore embedded into broader theoretical questions of policy research. More precisely, this research is a contribution to policy analysis that aims to achieve more optimal policy results by providing for a better understanding of the nature of policy designs and the social mechanisms behind the choice of them. Despite the intrinsic aim of policy analysis at contributing to more optimal policy outcomes, there remains a lack of research regarding analytical tools that enable an ex-ante assessment of policy designs’ problem-solving abilities. To explore such a research path, this book proposes a novel index of policy comprehensiveness for quantifying the prospective performance of policy designs in alleviating an underlying policy issue, e.g. reducing pollutants in waters. Furthermore, the book uncovers the social mechanisms behind policymaking and turns to the question: In which social settings is it possible to achieve a comprehensive policy design? Compared to purely micro-level explanations, the advantage of the network approach is that it goes beyond the mere aggregation of policy actors’ attributes by taking into consideration actors’ interdependencies. In order to take the network approach seriously, the study systematically links the structure of a policy network with comprehensive policy designs. Network concepts, such as coalition structure, interconnectedness, and belief similarity, are employed from policy change research here in order to explore the link between structural network characteristics and comprehensive policy design. By studying how network structures affect policy design, the book critically examines the explanatory value of the network approach.

First published in 1998, this book examines how established policy networks and the broader context within which they are embedded influence the choice of policy when change has been put on the agenda. It criticises the existing network literature for being predominantly descriptive, for having little to say on the choice of policy and for omitting the analysis of the broader political structures which have consequences for meso-level policy making. In order to reinforce the explanatory power of policy network analysis, the book develops both a meso and a macro-level theoretical model. They help to explain why policy change is more radical in some settings than in others. The theoretical arguments are tested by the use of detailed comparisons of agri-environmental policy making in Denmark and Sweden and of agricultural policy reforms in the European Union and Sweden.