The interaction of domestic and international factors in understanding policy change

Policy process and international relations theory are often seen as separate theoretical fields. To some extent scholars within these fields study the same type of processes, yet on different levels, and with limited interaction. We argue that a more extensive cross-fertilization of policy process and IR theories can generate valuable insights into how international and domestic processes interact in creating domestic policy outcomes. Focus is on factors important in both fields, as well as more generic factors. As such, this cross-fertilization can strengthen the theoretical foundation of some hypotheses, both in policy process and IR theory, but also introduce new ones from the other field. These theoretical insights are particularly valuable for studies of domestic policy change in issue areas that are highly connected to the international agenda. In the paper we construct a theoretical framework that includes insights from both policy process and IR theory. In this we focus on the common elements of policy process theories, rather than on the different theories by themselves. The most commonly used policy process theories, like the Advocacy Coalition Framework, the Multiple Streams Framework, Punctuated Equilibrium Theory, and Discursive Institutionalism, include overlapping factors although naming them differently. It is on these overlaps that our focus is directed. The most important are (1) discursive elements, captured in, for example, ‘policy images’ within Punctuated Equilibrium Theory, the shared understandings of problems within advocacy coalitions, the shared storylines within discourse coalitions, or the ‘national mood’ in the Multiple Streams Framework; (2) the presence of specific types of actors, like policy entrepreneurs or advocacy coalitions; and (3) external shocks or events. In IR theory we focus on pathways of influence related to, for instance, learning and norm diffusion, which connects well with the discursive elements in policy process theory as well as the presence of certain actors. The role of binding agreements is highlighted in IR theory and is also incorporated into the framework, as is external shocks. The framework will be based around several hypotheses that can be tested on empirical cases, for instance the current surge for carbon pricing mechanisms in the aftermath of the Paris Agreement.