Why is integrating policy assessment so hard? A comparative analysis of the institutional capacities and constraints

John Turnpenny, Måns Nilsson, Duncan Russel, Andrew Jordan, Julia Hertin and Bjorn Nykvist

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2008, vol. 51, issue 6, 759-775

Abstract: Widely advocated as a means to make policy making more integrated, policy assessment remains weakly integrated in practice. But explanations for this shortfall, such as lack of staff training and resources, ignore more fundamental institutional factors. This paper identifies institutional capacities supporting and constraining attempts to make policy assessment more integrated. A comparative empirical analysis of functionally equivalent assessment systems in four European jurisdictions finds that there are wide-ranging institutional constraints upon integration. These include international policy commitments, the perception that assessment should support rather than determine policy, organisational traditions, and the sectorisation of policy making. This paper concludes by exploring the potential for altering these institutions to make policy assessment more integrated.

Keywords: policy assessment; integration; sustainable development; institutional analysis; environmental policy; evidence-based policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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DOI: 10.1080/09640560802423541

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