Policy-as-practice: exploring the ‘hidden sides’ of policy-making in sustainability transitions

Abstract

While research on the politics of transitions has examined power dynamics, coalitions, and value contestations, the ‘hidden’ sides of operational governance, such as micro-political dynamics, strategies and tensions within decision-making spaces, remained largely underexplored. Considering the increased attention to politics in the governance of sustainability transitions, we argue for a better understanding of the complex, often messy policy processes behind the scenes. Drawing on insights from political science and policy studies, we propose a ‘policy-as-practice’ perspective for transition studies to explore how actors shape and negotiate the content of policies, and the often concealed arenas in which they operate. We discuss the roles of state and non-state actors, interest groups, policy advisors and experts, and how their day-to-day practices shape policy outcomes. Furthermore, we discuss hidden processes such as nondecisions, policy inaction and watering down of policy initiatives as research topics that highlight how a policy-as-practice perspective can provide valuable insights. These aspects of policymaking are difficult to observe from the study of policy documents, decisions or instruments, and require studying policy processes up-close and immersively. We also outline important ontological and methodological implications of our micro-political perspective for the field of transition policy studies.