Berndmarin, Renatemayrfiz a O

BerndMarin, RenateMayrfiz a o EmpiricalEvidence and Theoretical C-onsiderations CampusVerlag WesMewPress Policy Networks Max-Planck-Institut fiir Gesellschaftsforschung W Köln European Centre p ,, for Social Welfare Policy and Research \--'/ Vienna Bernd Marin, Renate Mayntz (Editors) PolicyNetworks Empirical Evidence and Theoretical Considerations Campus Verlag . Frankfurt am Main 'Westview Press . Boulder, Colorado Copyright @ l99l in Frankfurt am Main by Campus Verlag Published in l99l in the United States by WESTVIEW PRESS 5500 Central Avenue Boulder, Colorado 80301 ISBN 3-593-34471-8 Campus Verlag ISBN 0-8133-1458-5 Westview Press Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publi- cation Data available upon request Die Deutsche Bibliothek - ClP-Einheitsaufnahme Policy Networks: empirical evidence and theoretical considerations / Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Köln ; European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna. Bernd Marin ; Renate Mayntz (ed.). - Frankfurt am Main : Campus Verlag ; Boulder, Colorado : Westview Pr., 1991 ISBN 3-593-34471-8 (Campus Verlag) ISBN 0-8133-1458-5 (Westview Press) NE: Marin, Bernd [Hrsg.]; Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung (Köln) All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Printed in West Germany Contents Part One . Theoretical Considerations I Introduction: Studying Policy Networks Bernd Marin and Renate Mayntz 11 2 Policy Networks and Policy Analysis: Scrutinizing a New Analytical Toolbox Patrick Kenis and Volker Schneider 25 Part Two Policy Networks in National Policy Domains 3 Organizations in Political Action: Representing Interests in National Policy Making Edward O. Laumann and John P. Heinz with Robert Nelson and Robert Salisbury 63 4 Policy Networks in the German Telecommunications Domain Volker Schneider and Raymund Werle 97 5 Policy Networks and Change: The Case of High-T" Superconductors Dorothea Jansen r37 6 Contents Part Three Cross-National Variations in Policy Networks 6 Political Exchange in the German and American Labor Policy Domain Franz Urban Pappi and David Knoke 179 7 Fencing Off: Central Banks and Networks in Canada and the United States William D. Coleman 209 I Policy Networks, Opportunity Structures and Neo-Conservative Reform Strategies in Health Policy Marian Döhler 235 9 The Preconditions for Policy Networks: Some Findings from a Three-Country Study on Industrial Restructuring Patrick Kenis 297 Contributors 33r Part One Theoretical Considerations Chapter I Introduction: Studying Policy Networks Bernd Marin and Renate Mayntz Social scientists who, in a curiously self-referential process, attentively observe the changing conceptual "fashions" in their own discipline have lately pointed to the ascendance of a new key term: policy networks. By definition of what makes a theoretical "fashion", this term is attrib- uted great analytical promise by its proponents, whereas critical commen- tators argue that its meaning is still vague and that the perspective it implies has not yet matured into anything like a coherent (middle range) theory. What they agree on is their subject of concern, discourse and dispute, and that is sufficient to establish "policy networks" on the theoretical agenda of contemporary social science, without necessarily guaran- teeing the declared value. On the contrary, a speculative oversupply of networking terminology may inflate its explanatory power so that some form of intellectual control over the conceptual currency in circulation, both its precise designations and its amount of diffusion, become inevita- bly a clearance process within the profession. This situation obviously entails a welcome challenge which we have taken up in organizing, with the help of Patrick Kenis and Volker Schneider, in December 1989 a conference under the heading "Policy Networks: Structural Analysis of Public Policy Making". The present volume grew out of this conference, though it is not simply a collection of conference papers. For one thing we have included only such conference contributions as would fit together in terms of topic and approach. Even so, several of the original papers had to be substantially revised to meet this goal. On the other hand we decided to include two papers not presented at the conference, but which appeared to fit well with the selection of conference contributions as chapters of the book. In spite of the editorial efforts to put together a coherent volume rather than simply publishing yet another set of conference proceedings, t2 Chapter I we have not achieved, nor tried to achieve, anything like homogeneity - and even less so anything like an authoritative conceptual clarification. On the contrary, the book reflects the rather imperfect state of the art as to its colorful taxonomic and methodological pluralism, and at the same time provides the opportunity to learn from a great diversity of empirical studies. As can be seen from the overview table, the chapters in this book cover a broad range of policy networks and govemance foci, a wide variety of sectors analyzed, and many different, occasionally even multi- ple types of comparisons. The table also indicates an axis for structuring the volume, by com- bining a substantial (policy sector and governance focus) and a methodological (type of comparison) dimension. What it does not indicate is the terminological as well as the methodological variety which may be found. What Laumann et al., for instance, call a policy domain is a policy sector in the parlance of most of the other authors. Again, what Cole- man designates as a policy community is quite distinct from the meaning this term is given e.g. by Campbell et al. (1989). But there is no confu- sion resulting from such terminological diversity since in most cases the key terms are either explicitly or implicitly defined, so that the reader knows what the authors are talking about; this, of course, holds especial- ly for empirical case studies such as we have assembled in this volume. The chapters in the book also differ in their methodological approach. Some are qualitative analyses in the political science tradition (e.g. the chapters by Coleman and by Döhler), some use sophisticated quantitative methods of sociological network analysis (e.g. the chapters by Laumann et al. and by Pappi & Knoke); finally there is a third group of contributions which draw on both of these traditions - most clearly the chapter by Schneider & Werle. This diversity of approaches reflects the current "state of the art" in policy network research. In itself, "policy network" is a concept that appears to signal the confluence of two research traditions, (sociological) network analysis, and studies of policy making. In fact, however, as Kenis and Schneider note in chapter 2, most policy network studies to date have remained qualitative and "soft". As it is hoped that this volume will contribute to an intensified intellectual exchange between those working in a more qualitative approach and those working with quantitative data, we have quite intentionally selected ex- amples from both research traditions for this book. This should also afford the opportunity to evaluate their respective potentials as well as Introduction: Studying Policy Networks 13 Table 1: Policy Network Studies COMPARISONS GOVEFNANCE POLICY FIELD FOCUS DOMAIN Between Between Policy Over Time SECTOR Countries Fields Cross-National Cross-Sectoral Diachronlc Agricultural Laumann Policy lndustrial Restructuring Kenis Kenis Policy Monetary ECONOMY-_ Coleman Policy Labor Pappi Laumann Policy Energy Policy Laumann ) Telecommuni- calions Policy SchneidertVtlerle SCIENCE & TECH { Superconduc- Jansen tivity Policy HEALTH Health Pollcy Döhler Laumann Döhlet l4 Chapter I the chances of actually achieving that integration which the key term "policy network" only hints at now. In spite of these differences between them, the chapters of this book also have a number of things in common. First, with the exception of the overview chapter by Kenis & Schneider, all contributions report on results from primary research and empirical studies. Whereas method- ologies, techniques used and empirical evidence vary widely, all studies interpret findings based on genuine and primary research work and data generation. Secondly, all of these studies arc comparative cross-sectoral, or cross-national, ot diachronic in design, comparing policy networks in different policy sectors, in different countries, or at different points in time; Döhler and Kenis even combine two comparative dimensions by studying a given policy field (health and industrial restructuring) cross- nationally and also diachronically, over different periods of time. Cole- man and Pappi compare countries (Canada/US and Germany/US) in monetary and labor policy, Jansen and Schneider & Werle compare network developments within one high-tech sector such as superconductivity and telecommunications in one country (Germany) over time. And Lau- mann et al. compare networking in one country across a broad range of sectors - agriculture, energy, labor, and health in the United States. Thirdly, with the exception of Laumann et al. who study networking processes without structured and organized policy networks, all other empirical studies focus on structured sets of corporate or collective

Load more