Governance, Policy and Politics

Question 1

The policy cycle (?;?)

Answer 1

Est. Lasswell 1950s
Define problem – agenda setting – policy development – implementation – evaluation

BUT assumes stages self-contained, linear, rational, problem definition initiates the cycle

Question 2

Multiple streams framework (?;?)

Answer 2

Kingdon 2003
Problems, policies and politics
‘coupled together’ = policy window
Due to crisis, linking of problem to pre-existing solution, administration change

Question 3

Origins of policy (?;?)

Answer 3

Page 2008
Europe fused exec. and leg. = exec. dominate leg. process
Policies defined by:
Intentions — principles or policy lines
Actions — measures (policy as its own cause) or activities (unconscious inaction is a form of policy making)

Question 4

Big P and small p politics (?;?)

Answer 4

Flint 2003
Big P = institutions, high politics
small p = challenges institutions, non-traditional venues

Question 5

Post-politics vs. real democratic politics (?;?)

Answer 5

Swyngedouw 2009
Post-politics = consensus, elite networks, legitimate voices
Police order = existing order
Sustainability = conservative/reactionary view of singular harmonious nature - removes the political
Democratic politics = disruptive, gives a voice to the voiceless
BUT says protests are instituted through ‘participation’ or marginalised, so….

Question 6

History of governance

Answer 6

70s ‘overloaded state’ = bring in private sector
80s to early 90s state ‘hollowed out’ = Thatcher’s privatisation
Late 90s+ = the ‘congested’ or ‘networked’ state

Networks of actors - public and private - with shared responsibility for environmental regulation/protection

Question 7

The good side of governance (?;?)

Answer 7

Hajer and Wagenaar 2003
Dissatisfaction with limited reach of ‘set solutions’ through top-down approach
Increases participation through small-scale direct democracy or strong links between citizens and institutions
Language of ‘governance’ enables a rethink of governing and politics

Question 8

Defining the term ‘environmental governance’ (?;?)

Answer 8

Bridge and Perreault 2009
vague and malleable - obscures range of positions
Key elements = problematises state-centric understandings; rise of non-traditional actors
Does political work - obscures differences, post-political consensus building
Useful still:
- focus on coherence = ways humans and nonhumans might be able to align
- creative thinking about collective environmental futures

Question 9

The differentiated polity (?;?)

Answer 9

Rhodes 2007
Shift from gov by unitary state to gov by and through networks
policy networks = gov and other actors - policies emerge through bargaining
hollowing out of the state - from above, below and sideways
Network steering by gov? - no, decentered approach = governance networks arise from bottom up; contingent and continuous construction = can’t be managed