Theorising Patterns of Policy Networks at the Local Level in Germany

This contribution seeks to explain patterns of policy networks at the local level. Although this is an empirical task, the main challenge consists in linking network analysis and assumptions of policy process research. Understanding policy processes as a relational phenomenon is well-founded regarding subjects like communication, collaboration or alliances (Weible and Sabatier 2005), but the emergence of a policy network approach has been hampered by applying the concept either too loosely or in an instrumental way (Dowding 1995). Studying network dynamics has recently relied on the latter and although it is most advanced within the tradition of the Advocacy Coalition Framework’s assumption of preference homophily (Ingold 2011; Matti and Sandström 2011), there are noteworthy contributions within Social-Ecological Systems (Bodin et al. 2016) or Multiple Streams (de Leeuw et al. 2016). However, the emergence of policy networks remains confronted with its ambiguous role between concept and tool. Rather than overcoming such a distinction, we suggest to design research in order to challenge established assumptions by applications in new environments. By shifting attention from policy networks delineated by subsystems towards local communities self-organizing a plurality of issues, we emphasize spatial aspects of local politics. This way, policy networks as empirical subjects allow for sounding the scope of policy theories and contributing to theory development by reinterpreting blind spots. Our inquiry is based on data on collaboration of councilors in a German municipality. We conduct an online-survey gathering collaborative relationship assessment as well as attribute data including political preferences and biographical information. This allows for an examination of place-bound network patterns beyond the scope of policy domains. Another challenge is constituted by the role of local parties, which could provide shared beliefs or an opportunity for collaboration. Finally, biographies of councilors are a promising starting point for integrating and testing hypotheses of the emerging perspective of the programmatic action framework (Hornung and Bandelow 2018), shedding light on another potentially underestimated aspect of policy networks. Bodin, Örjan, Garry Robins, Ryan R. J. McAllister, Angela M. Guerrero, Beatrice Crona, Maria Tengö, and Mark Lubell. 2016. "Theorizing Benefits and Constraints in Collaborative Environmental Governance: A Transdisciplinary Social-Ecological Network Approach for Empirical Investigations." Ecology and Society 21 (1):40. de Leeuw, Evelyne, Marjan Hoeijmakers, and Dorothee T. J. M. Peters. 2016. "Juggling Multiple Networks in Multiple Streams." European Policy Analysis 2 (1):196-217. Dowding, Keith. 1995. "Model or Metaphor? A Critical Review of the Policy Network Approach." Political Studies 43 (1):136-58. Hornung, Johanna, and Nils C. Bandelow. 2018. "The Programmatic Elite in German Health Policy: Collective Action and Sectoral History." Public Policy and Administration. Ingold, Karin. 2011. "Network Structures within Policy Processes: Coalitions, Power, and Brokerage in Swiss Climate Policy." Policy Studies Journal 39 (3):435-59. Matti, Simon, and Annica Sandström. 2011. "The Rationale Determining Advocacy Coalitions: Examining Coordination Networks and Corresponding Beliefs." Policy Studies Journal 39 (3):385-410. Weible, Christopher M., and Paul A. Sabatier. 2005. "Comparing Policy Networks: Marine Protected Areas in California." Policy Studies Journal 33 (2):181-201.