COMPASSS Working Paper 2013 - 73 Policy network structures , institutional context , and policy change

This paper studies whether characteristics of policy networks can help us understand policy change. The relation between policy networks and policy outputs is complex. I argue that taking into account the institutional context in which decision-making takes place allows understanding which policy network structures favor major policy change and which ones breed outputs close to the status quo. The study analyzes how conflict, collaboration, and power relations among coalitions of actors matter for the understanding of policy change in an institutional context of a consensus democracy. Empirically, I rely on Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to conduct a cross-sector comparison between the 11 most important political decision-making processes in Switzerland between 2001 and 2006. Coalition structures with low conflict and strong collaboration among coalitions as well as structures with dominant coalitions and weak collaboration both facilitate major policy change. Competing coalitions that are separated by strong conflict but still collaborate strongly produce policy outputs that are close to the status quo.