Policy Diffusion in the Context of International River Basin Management

Abstract

This paper deals with policy diffusion across countries in the context of collaborative river basin management. Borrowing from the literature on policy diffusion and ‘smart strategies’ of small European Union member states, we argue that policy diffusion is fostered by structural and agency‐related factors. We illustrate our theoretical ideas with a case study on the new Swiss policy on micropollutants in surface waters. Based on a rich set of documents and interviews with key actors, we show that the integration of Switzerland into formal and informal transnational networks fosters the diffusion of its micropollutants policy to other Rhine riparian countries. In addition, we analyse agency‐related factors favouring policy diffusion in river basins, such as a country's pioneer role, its expertise, the fact that its policy is in line with general policy goals in other countries and the political acceptance of the policy at home. Our analysis suggests that policy diffusion can be an important phenomenon in integrated water resources management. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

How Policy-Specific Factors Influence Horizontal Cooperation among Subnational Governments: Evidence from the Swiss Water Sector

“…This effect is however negative when focusing specifically on issues of water protection, flood protection and fisheries. It is likely that for riparians to bigger rivers, other options than interstate cooperation are available, such as, for example, international regimes (such as the International Conference for the Protection of the Rhine River, e.g., Metz and Fischer 2016), to deal with the important issues of flood protection and fisheries. Furthermore, the ecological state of big rivers is less problematic in Switzerland as compared to small rivers, thus creating less incentives for subnational governments to cooperate on issues of water protection.…”

Integrated Water Resources Management and Policy Integration: Lessons from 169 Years of Flood Policies in Switzerland

“…From a policy design perspective, successful implementation of a policy crucially depends on, among others, who is mandated to implement a policy and on which governance level; the target groups of a policy; and how strongly behavioral changes of target groups are incentivized, or misbehavior sanctioned. Various streams of literatures have generated insights about policy designs with the aim of creating appropriate conditions for future implementation and management, including research on policy change [45], policy processes [46], policy instruments and portfolios [47], policy diffusion [48,49], policy outcomes [50], and policy indices [42,51]. Building on a literature review, we deduce ten indicators from the diverse streams of the public policy literature in order to cross-fertilize the IWRM concept with insights into policy design beyond the extent of the regime.…”

Examining the Evolving Environmental Protection Policy Convergence in the Ontario Municipal Drinking Water, Wastewater and Stormwater Sectors: Analysis of State/Non-State Governance and the Value of an Environmental Management System Standard for the Wastewater and Stormwater Sectors

“…In the context of river basin management, examples of policy diffusion abound especially in the area of integrated water resources management (IWRM), including institutional capacity building (Johns, 2014a: ;Bouckaert, et al 2018). In the example of the Rhine River basin and micropollutants monitoring (Metz & Fischer, 2016), policy diffusion depends on the exchange of monitoring data and governance structures from governments within this watershed. Another example is the water quality protection of the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes, where state and nonstate actors, their rule instruments, processes and institutions have been mapped out by Martin and Webb (forthcoming), highlighting their intertwined relationships.…”