Original Article
Policy Stalemate and Policy Change in Israel's Water Sector 1970–2010: Advocacy Coalitions and Policy Narratives
Gila Menahem,
Shula Gilad,
Gila Menahem
Tel-Aviv University, Public Policy, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorShula Gilad
The Program on Negotiations, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Search for more papers by this authorGila Menahem,
Shula Gilad,
Gila Menahem
Tel-Aviv University, Public Policy, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorShula Gilad
The Program on Negotiations, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
This paper seeks to explain policy stalemates that persist despite recognition of their risks and damages, as well as the factors and processes that enable a breakthrough and lead to policy change. The paper seeks to fill a gap in the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) theory by supplementing it with Narrative Analysis (NA). We claim that NA provides a link missing in the ACF that is required for the transformation of “necessary” conditions—like external and internal shocks to the system—into “sufficient” conditions for policy persistence or change. We use the ACF to delineate coalition members and their belief systems and policy positions, as well as external, internal, and structural shocks to the system. We rely on NA to analyze the narratives employed in the public arena, which turn conditions necessary both for hurting stalemates and for policy change into sufficient conditions. We illustrate the benefits of combining the two approaches through a study of Israel's water policy during four decades (1970s–2000s) based on government records and on information from interviews with key players.
References
- Albright, E. A. (2011). Policy change and learning in response to extreme flood events in Hungary: An advocacy coalition approach. Policy Studies Journal, 39(3), 485–511.
- Arlosoroff, S. (1997). Report to the Water Commissioner of Israel on the Israeli water sector. Tel Aviv: Office of the Water Commissioner.
- Baumgartner, F., & Jones B. (1993). Agendas and instability in American politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Boin, A., ‘t Hart, P., & McConnell, A. (2009). Crisis exploitation: Political and policy impacts of framing contests. Journal of European Public Policy, 16, 81–106.
- Bonjean, C. M. (1963). Community leadership: A case study and conceptual refinement. American Journal of Sociology, 68, 672–681.
- Borins, F. S. (2012). Making narrative count: A narratological approach to public management innovation. JPART, 22, 165–189.
- Burnett, M., & Davis, C. (2002). Getting out the cut: Politics and the national forest timber harvests. Administration and Society, 34, 202–228.
- Carvalho, G. O. (2001). Metallurgical development in the Carajas area: A case study of the evolution of environmental policy formation in Brazil. Society and Natural Resources, 14, 127–143.
- Clingermayer, J. C., & Feiock, R. C. (1990). The adoption of economic development policies by large cities: A test of economic, interest group, and institutional explanations. Policy Studies Journal, 18, 539–552.
- Cohen, A. (2001). Finance Ministry reverses its opposition to desalination and water importation, Ha'aretz, 7 June.
- Davis, C., & Davis, S. (1988). Analyzing change in public lands policymaking: From sub systems to advocacy coalitions. Policy Studies Journal, 17, 3–24.
-
Dery, D., &
Salomon, I. (1997). After me, the deluge—Uncertainty and water policy in Israel. Water Resources Development, 13, 93–110.
10.1080/07900629749953 Google Scholar
-
De-Shalit, A. (1995). From the political to the objective: The dialectics of Zionism and environment. Environment Politics, 4, 70–87.
10.1080/09644019508414183 Google Scholar
- Eisenstandt, S. N. (1967). Israeli society. London: Weindenfeld and Nicolson.
- Feitelson, E. (2002). Implications of shifts in the Israeli water discourse for Israeli-Palestinian water negotiations. Political Geography, 21, 293–318.
- Feitelson, E. (2005). Political economy of groundwater exploitation: The Israeli case. International Journal of Water Resources and Development, 21, 413–423.
- Feitelson, E., Fischhendler, I., & Kay, P. (2007). Role of a central administrator in managing water resources: The case of the Israeli water commissioner. Water Resources Research, 43, W11415.
-
Fischer, F. (2003). Reframing public policy: Discursive politics and deliberative practices. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
10.1093/019924264X.001.0001 Google Scholar
- Fischer, F. (2006). Participatory governance as deliberative empowerment: The cultural politics of discursive space. American Review of Public Administration, 36, 19–40.
- Galnoor, I. (1978). Water policy making in Israel. Policy Analysis, 4, 339–367.
- Gilad, S. (2002). Policy undercurrent: An analysis of policymaking in Israel's water sector 1990-2000 and beyond. PhD Dissertation. Brandeis University.
- Grube, D. (2012). Prime Ministers and political narratives for policy change: Towards a heuristic. Policy & Politics, 40, 569–586.
- Hajer, M. (2005). Setting the stage a dramaturgy of policy deliberation. Administration and Society, 36, 624–647.
- Hampton, G. (2009). Narrative policy analysis and the integration of public involvement in decision making. Policy Sciences, 42, 227–242.
-
Healey, P., &
Hillier, J. (1996). Communicative micropolitics: A story of claims and discourses. International Planning Studies, 1, 165–184.
10.1080/13563479608721650 Google Scholar
- Henry, A. D., Ingold, K., Nohrstedt, D., & Weible, C. M. (2014). Policy change in comparative contexts: Applying the advocacy coalition framework outside of Western Europe and North America. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 16, 299–312.
- Hoberg, G. (1996). Putting ideas in their place: A response to “Learning and change in the British Columbia forest policy sector.” Canadian Journal of Political Science, 29(1), 135–144.
- Hochman, E., & Hochman, O. (1991). A policy of efficient water pricing in Israel. The Economic Quarterly, 150, 502–523 (Hebrew).
- Ingold, K. (2011). Network structures within policy processes: Coalitions, power and brokerage in Swiss climate policy. Policy Studies Journal, 39, 435–459.
- Ingold, K., & Varone, F. (2011). Treating policy brokers seriously: Evidence from the climate policy. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 22, 319–346.
- Inquiry Commission. (1997). Investigation of the Management of Water Provision in Israel. Submitted to the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and the Water Commission. April 1997 (Hebrew).
- John, P., & Cole, A. (2000). When do institutions, policy sectors, and cities matter? Comparing networks of local policy makers in Britain and France. Comparative Political Studies, 33, 248–268.
- Jones, M. D., & McBeth, M. K. (2010). A narrative policy framework: Clear enough to be wrong? Policy Studies Journal, 38(2), 329–353.
- Kantor, M. (1995). Water in Israel, perspectives into the 21st century. Research Article No. 9504. Rehovot, Israel: The Centre for Agricultural Economic Research (Hebrew).
- Kartin, A. (2000). Factors inhibiting structural changes in Israel's water policy. Political Geography, 19, 97–115.
- Keren, M. (1993). Economists and economic policy making in Israel: The politics of expertise in the stabilization program. Policy Sciences, 26, 331–346.
- Kerret, D. Menahem, G., & Sagi, R. (2010). Effects of the design of environmental disclosure regulation on information provision: The case of Israeli securities regulation. Environmental Science and Technology, 44, 8022–8029.
- Kislev, Y. (1991). Israel's water economy and the predicaments of agriculture—Panel discussion. The Economic Quarterly, 150, 536–561.
-
Knill, C. (1999). Explaining cross-national variance in administrative reform: Autonomous versus instrumental bureaucracies. Journal of Public Policy, 19(2), 113–139.
10.1017/S0143814X99000203 Google Scholar
-
Knoke, D. F.,
Pappi, U.,
Broadbent, J., &
Tsujinaka, Y. (1996). Comparing policy networks—labour politics in the US, Germany and Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10.1017/CBO9781139174497 Google Scholar
- Lipkin, D. (2001). Sheinin's doomsday prophesy. Maarive,13 April.
- Matti, S., & Sandström, A. (2013). The defining elements of advocacy coalitions: Continuing the search for explanations for coordination and coalition structures. Review of Policy Research, 30, 240–257.
- McBeth, M. K., Shanahan, E. A., & Jones, M. D. (2005). The science of storytelling: Measuring policy beliefs in greater yellowstone. Society and Natural Resources, 18, 413–427.
- McBeth, M. K., Shanahan, E. A., Arnell, R. J., & Hathaway, P. L. (2007). The intersection of narrative policy analysis and policy change theory. Policy Studies Journal, 35, 87–108.
-
Menahem, G. (1998). Policy paradigms, policy networks and water policy in Israel. Journal of Public Policy, 18, 29–56.
10.1017/S0143814X98000142 Google Scholar
- Mintrom, M., & Vergari, S. (1996). Advocacy coalitions, policy entrepreneurs, and policy change. Policy Studies Journal, 24(3), 420–434.
- Mossenson, R. (1991). The water crisis in Israel: Public regulation and financing and government and public accounting. The Economic Quarterly, 150, 479–487 (Hebrew).
- Nohrstedt, D. (2005). External shocks and policy change: Three Mile Island and Swedish nuclear energy policy. Journal of European Public Policy, 12, 1041–1059.
- Ospina, S., & Dodge, J. (2005). It's about time: Catching method up to meaning—the usefulness of narrative inquiry in public administration research. Public Administration Review, 65, 143–157.
- Parliamentary Inquiry Commission for Water Crisis. (2001). http://www.knesset.gov.il/committees/heb/docs/vaadat_chakira_mayim.doc Hebrew.
-
Peters, B. G. (2011). Governance as political theory. Critical Policy Studies, 5(1), 63–72.
10.1080/19460171.2011.555683 Google Scholar
- Pierce, J. (2011). Coalition stability and belief change: Advocacy coalitions in U.S. foreign policy and the creation of Israel, 1922-44. Policy Studies Journal, 39, 411–434.
- Radaelli, C. M. (1999). Harmful Tax Competition in the EU: Policy Narratives and Advocacy Coalitions. Journal of Market Studies, 37, 661–682.
- Roe, E. M. (1989). Narrative analysis for the policy analyst: A case study of the 1980-1982 medfly controversy in California. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 8, 251–273.
-
Roe, E. M. (1994). Narrative policy analysis: Theory and practice. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
10.1215/9780822381891 Google Scholar
- P. A. Sabatier, & H. C. Jenkins-Smith (Eds.). (1993). Policy change and learning: An advocacy coalition approach. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
- Sabatier, P. A., & Jenkins-Smith, H. C. (1999). The advocacy coalition framework: An assessment. In P. A. Sabatier (Ed.), Theories of the policy process (pp. 117–166). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
- Sabatier, P. A., & Weible, C. M. (2007). The advocacy coalition framework: Innovations and clarifications. In P. A. Sabatier (Ed.), Theories of the policy process, 2nd ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
- Sabatier, P. A., Leach, W. D., Lubell, M., & Pelkey, N. W. (2005). Theoretical frameworks explaining partnership success. In P. A. Sabatier, et al. (Eds.), Swimming upstream: Collaborative approaches to watershed management (pp. 173–200). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Schlager, E. (1995). Policy making and collective action: Defining coalitions within the advocacy coalition framework. Policy Sciences, 28, 243–270.
- Schlager, E. (2007). A comparison of frameworks, theories and models of the policy process. In P. A. Sabatier (Ed.), Theories of the policy process ( 2nd ed., pp. 293–319). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
- Schmidt, V. A. (2008). Discursive institutionalism: The explanatory power of ideas and discourse. Annual Review of Political Science, 11, 303–326.
- Schmidt, V. A., & Radaelli, C. M. (2004). Policy change and discourse in Europe: Conceptual and methodological issues. West European Politics, 27, 183–210.
- Schon, D., & Rein, M. (1994). Frame reflection: Toward the resolution of intractable policy controversies. New York: Basic Books.
-
Schwartz, S. H. (2006). A theory of cultural value orientations: Explication and applications. Comparative Sociology, 5(2–3), 137–182.
10.1163/156913306778667357 Google Scholar
- Shanahan, E. A., Jones, M. D., & McBeth, M. K. (2011). Policy narratives and policy processes. Policy Studies Journal, 39, 535–561.
- Shenhav, S. R. (2005). Thin and thick narrative analysis: On the question of defining and analyzing political narratives. Narrative Inquiry, 15, 75.99.
- Sotirov, M., & Memmler, M. (2012). The Advocacy Coalition Framework in natural resource policy studies—Recent experiences and further prospects. Forest Policy and Economics, 16, 51–64.
- State Comptroller, Israel. (1979). Annual Report No. 30. Jerusalem: Government Press. (Hebrew)
- State Comptroller, Israel. (1986). Annual Report No. 37. Jerusalem: Government Press. (Hebrew)
- State Comptroller, Israel. (1988). Annual Report No. 39. Jerusalem: Government Press. (Hebrew)
- State Comptroller Report. (1990). Report on the management of water resources in Israel. Jerusalem: Government Press, p. 176. (Hebrew)
- State Inquiry Commission for Water Crisis. (2010). (Hebrew).
- Stone, D. A. (1989). Causal stories and the formation of policy agendas. Political Science Quarterly, 104, 281–301.
- Stone, D. A. (1997). Policy paradox: The art of political decision making. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
- Weible, C. M. (2007). An advocacy coalition framework approach to stakeholder analysis: Understanding the political context of California marine protected area policy. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17(1), 95–117.
- Weible, C. M., Sabatier, P. A. & McQueen, K. (2009). Themes and variations: Taking stock of the advocacy coalition framework. Policy Studies Journal, 37, 121–140.
- Weir, M. (1989). Ideas and politics: The acceptance of Keynesianism in Britain and the United States. In P. A. Hall (Ed.), The political power of economic ideas: Keynesianism across nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Yanow, D. (1996). How does a policy mean: Interpreting policy and organizational actions. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
- Yanow, D. (2001). Interpretive, qualitative, and quantitative. PS: Political Science and Politics, 34, 767–772.
