Where Advocacy Coalitions and Policy Networks Intersect in U.S. Environmental Risk Policy
摘要
Participants of the policy process coordinate with one another to share resources, take joint action, and learn about salient problems. These patterns of coordination, known as policy networks, may also co-occur with policy advocacy, where actors coordinate with the intention of jointly influencing policy change. While the concepts of policy networks and advocacy coalitions are related, they are distinct phenomena. This chapter applies the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) to test where policy networks and coalition boundaries overlap. According to the ACF, most policy networks will exist within coalition boundaries. Egocentric social network analysis is applied to survey data from policy actors in the U.S. Environmental Risk policy subsystem, individuals we refer to as risk professionals, and find that the majority of coordinated policy-related activities take place outside of coalitions. This result varies in strength across types of coordination. High-stakes activities show a stronger relationship with coalition ties than low-stakes activities.