Do Administrative Traditions Matter for Climate Change Adaptation Policy? A Comparative Analysis of 32 High‐Income Countries

Abstract

Although governments are developing and implementing policies to adapt to the impacts of climate change, it remains unclear which factors shape how states are developing these policies. This paper aims to assess whether or not administrative traditions matter for the formation of national climate change adaptation policy in 32 high-income countries. We operationalize administrative traditions based on five structural criteria: vertical dispersion of authority, horizontal coordination, interest mediation between state-society, role of public administrator, and how ideas enter bureaucracy. We construct a unique adaptation policy dataset that includes 32 high-income countries to test seven hypotheses. Our results indicate that countries' adaptation policies align to some extent with their administrative structure, particularly dispersion of authority and horizontal coordination. However, we find limited evidence that other public bureaucracy factors are related to national adaptation policy. We conclude that administrative traditions matter, but that their influence should not be overestimated. 行政传统对气候变化适应政策而言重要吗？一项关于32个高收入国家的比较分析尽管政府正在制定并实行相关政策来适应气候变化影响， 但目前尚不清楚的是， 哪些因素会对国家 如何发展政策一事产生影响。本文致力评估32个高收入国家中行政传统是否会影响国家气候变化 适应政策的形成。 作者基于5项结构性准则， 对行政传统进行了操作化。这些准则分别是： 权威的垂 直分散、横向协调、 国家和社会间的利益调解、 公共行政人员的作用、 以及不同观念如何进入官僚。 作者建构了一个包含32个高收入国家的独特适应政策数据集， 用于测试7项假设。测试结果显示， 各国的适应政策在一定程度上和各自的行政结构保持一致， 尤其是权威分散和横向协调。然而， 作 者发现， 其他公共官僚机构因素和国家适应政策之间没有太多的相关性。本文结论认为， 行政传统 固然重要， 但它们的影响也不应被夸大。 关键词: 行政传统, 公共官僚机构, 气候变化适应, 治理, 政策创新 881 bs_bs_banner A pesar de que los gobiernos estén desarrollando e implementando políticas para adaptarse a los impactos del cambio climático, no es todavía claro qué factores le dan forma a cómo los estados están desarrollando estas políticas. Este documento busca evaluar si las tradiciones administrativas importan al momento de formular las políticas nacionales de adaptación al cambio climático en 32 países de alto ingreso. Operacionalizamos las tradiciones administrativas basándonos en cinco criterios estructurales: la dispersión vertical de la autoridad, la coordinación horizontal, la mediación de intereses entre el estado y la sociedad, el papel que juega la administración pública y cómo las ideas entran en la burocracia. Construimos un set de datos único para las políticas de adaptación que incluye 32 países de alto ingreso para comprobar siete hipótesis. Nuestros resultados indican que las políticas de adaptación de los países están alineadas hasta cierto punto con su estructura administrativa, particularmente con la dispersión de la autoridad y con la coordinación horizontal. Sin embargo, encontramos evidencia limitada de que otros factores de la burocracia pública estén relacionados con la política de adaptación. Concluimos que las tradiciones administrativas importan, pero que su influencia no debería ser sobreestimada. PALABRAS CLAVE: tradiciones administrativas, burocracia pública, adaptación al cambio climático, gobernanza, innovación política

Foreign‐Funded Adaptation to Climate Change in Africa: Mirroring Administrative Traditions or Traditions of Administrative Blueprinting?

“…Most of these aspects demand coordination at a higher scale than the family, community, or village. Coordination therefore is generally provided for by national administrative systems (Biesbroek, Lesnikowski, et al, ; Dyson, ; Painter & Peters, ; Peters & Pierre, ).…”

“…However, this is not to say that each administrative system is good at implementing the same “large” things. Administrative systems differ per national context, making adaptation likely to differ in different administrative systems (Biesbroek, Lesnikowski, et al, ; Biesbroek et al, ; Painter & Peters, ; Vink et al, ).…”

“…Nevertheless, both traditions are obviously interlinked (Dyson, ; Painter & Peters, ). If adaptation is largely an administrative enterprise, administrative traditions are likely to affect how adaptation plays out, and conversely the fit of adaptation initiatives with these administrative traditions is likely to determine the effectiveness of climate change adaptation (Biesbroek, Lesnikowski, et al, ; Vink et al, ).…”

“…The large scale of many adaptation interventions—such as introducing new crop varieties or building robust infrastructure and the collective action required to adapt systems like water management—is likely to require the involvement of public administration systems (Bisaro & Hinkel, ; Jordan et al, ). As hypothesized in the Introduction to this special issue, this could indicate that administrative traditions play an important role in how adaptation to climate change plays out (Biesbroek, Lesnikowski, Berrang‐Ford, Vink, & Ford, ; Biesbroek, Peters, & Tosun, ; Vink et al, ). Differences in administrative traditions (e.g., differences in state structure, state–society relations, accountability, openness of bureaucracy, knowledge organization) can have consequences for how policies are made, how policy reform plays out, and the pace and form of public bureaucracies' attention to new issues (Biesbroek, Lesnikowski, et al, ; Hyden, ; Painter & Peters, ; Peters & Pierre, ).…”

“…As hypothesized in the Introduction to this special issue, this could indicate that administrative traditions play an important role in how adaptation to climate change plays out (Biesbroek, Lesnikowski, Berrang‐Ford, Vink, & Ford, ; Biesbroek, Peters, & Tosun, ; Vink et al, ). Differences in administrative traditions (e.g., differences in state structure, state–society relations, accountability, openness of bureaucracy, knowledge organization) can have consequences for how policies are made, how policy reform plays out, and the pace and form of public bureaucracies' attention to new issues (Biesbroek, Lesnikowski, et al, ; Hyden, ; Painter & Peters, ; Peters & Pierre, ). However, the idea of administrative traditions remains largely a concept of comparative inquiry in the (Western) world of well‐developed public administration systems.…”