This theoretical contribution to the section “The Politics of the Policy Process” (S70) seeks to present a model to explain the implementation outcomes of policies, which aim at transferring governance principles from a multi-level system (for example, the EU) to a nation-state that does not belong to this system (non-member state). This model is a part of doctoral research project, which aims at explaining EU performance in promoting civil society through the European Neighbourhood Policy in the target countries using the case of Ukraine and policy implementation analysis.
While the literature in policy implementation is vast, it had covered so far policy implementation on a national level and within the multi-level system (Héritier et al. 2001; Falkner et al. 2005; Pülzl & Treib, 2007). Studies on policy implementation across the borders in the conditions, when there is no incentive for the recipient state in the form of membership, have been rare.
The explanatory model originates from the social constructivist theoretical framework of policy process and draws on the interpretative approach to policy implementation (Yanow, 2009), while putting domestic actors at the heart of analysis. It was developed based on Andrea Spehar’s (2016) study of gender policy implementation in the Balkan states, but significantly amended to reveal the mechanisms behind the concept of “political commitment” and to hypothesize how these elements may be influenced by external and domestic actors to achieve policy goals.
Political commitment of domestic policy implementers may be understood as a combination of incentives to act: 1) political will (personal preferences, values), 2) political necessity (external pressure from society or international community, mechanisms of prosecuting non-compliance) and 3) political capacity (financial, technical and political resources).
The explanatory model to be presented at the conference will outline the possibilities of exerting external influence on the elements (incentives to act) of political commitment – political will, political necessity and political capacity – of domestic actors. It will also be used to hypothesize how external actors can influence domestic political commitment through increasing the domestic sense of political necessity even in cases, where political will and political capacities remain insufficient to reach policy goals.
The model is intended to make a contribution to the studies of implementation as a particular element of policy process. It will uncover the mechanisms behind political commitment to policy goals of domestic policy implementers and thus offer a possible explanation of why some externally promoted policies reach their goals, while others less so.
