The role of actors' issue and sector specialization for policy integration in the parliamentary arena: an analysis of Swiss biodiversity policy using text as data

Ueli Reber (), Karin Ingold and Manuel Fischer
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Ueli Reber: Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
Karin Ingold: Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
Manuel Fischer: Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology

Policy Sciences, 2023, vol. 56, issue 1, No 7, 95-114

Abstract: Abstract The role of the parliamentary arena and members of parliament (MPs) therein for both mainstreaming and cross-sectoral policy integration is largely unknown. Studying the case of Switzerland, this paper analyzes the integration of the biodiversity issue into policies of 20 different policy sectors over a period of 19 years to assess how two specific actor attributes—issue and sector specialization—increase the chances of MPs of engaging in both biodiversity mainstreaming and its cross-sectoral integration. The results based on a comprehensive collection of political documents from the parliamentary arena, and multilevel regression models show that an increase in MPs' sector specialization is associated with both a decrease in mainstreaming and a decrease in cross-sectoral integration activities. By contrast, an increase in issue specialization typically translates into biodiversity-related activity in a larger number of sectors. In the parliamentary arena, therefore, it is primarily a small group of “issue specialists” who take responsibility for the integration of crosscutting issues, such as biodiversity, into critical sectoral policies.

Keywords: Policy integration; Cross-sectoral integration; Mainstreaming; Issue attention; Biodiversity; Parliament; Quantitative text analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s11077-022-09490-2

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