The Effect of Beliefs on Instrument Choice – The Case of Swiss Renewable Energy Policy

This paper analyzes beliefs that drive the formation of actors’ preferences regarding policy instruments promoting renewable energy (RE) in Switzerland. Theoretically, the paper explores the relation between policy core beliefs (i.e., issue-specific values) and secondary aspects (i.e., preferences) that is central in applications of Sabatier’s Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) as a driving factor for instrument choice. The relation between core beliefs and secondary aspect has remained underspecified even though both core beliefs and secondary aspects play an important role for coalition building, policy-oriented learning and policy change. The paper illuminates this link within the assumed hierarchical model of beliefs systems also with regard of improving the comparability of studies across policy subsystems and governance levels. It explores the relative contribution of beliefs to shaping secondary aspects of elite actors in the Swiss cantons, compared to other factors such as cooperation between actors, network influence or institutional logics by employing network autocorrelation models. The paper finds that beliefs are likely to play a distinct role in the formation of secondary aspects that is more central than e.g. cooperation among actors. For the case of RE promotion, the desired general level of state intervention in the domain of energy policy as well as the perceived importance of the climate change issue mostly predetermine actors’ preferred instrument choice. Results further suggest that in applications of the ACF the interrelation between policy core beliefs and secondary aspects should be considered not just within coalitions but more on the level of individual actors.