Steroids, plastic, and psychedelics: the interlinking of epistemic coalition infighting and domestic perception in creating third-order policy change
Giuliano Espino
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Mixed-method within-and-across case studies (dissertation) |
|---|---|
| Population | Three cases: the International Olympic Committee's role in American steroid prohibition, the European Chemicals Agency's role in EU plastics regulation, and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies' role in guiding MDMA-assisted psychotherapy through FDA approval |
| Key findings | Argues that epistemic coalitions achieve third-order domestic policy change only when they resolve internal deliberative agitation by coalescing around a founding organizational narrative and are perceived by states as equitably balanced through normative congruence between national elites and that narrative; these conditions enable a 'teacher-student' policy-learning relationship and subsequent policy entrepreneurship when high press attention brings the issue to the macropolitical agenda. |
Abstract
Epistemic coalitions are international nonstate actors comprised of technical experts, political advocates, and private sector representatives. Discussion of epistemic coalitions has been until recently subsumed within the larger discussion of epistemic communities, which are organizations solely comprised of technical experts. This dissertation seeks to build upon a recent scholarly trend of differentiating instuitional modes of epistemic governance. The puzzle I seek to address relates to the blessings and hurdles of institutional heterogeneity. On the one hand, the tripartite membership of epistemic coalitions can bestow upon them great success in redefining domestic policy problems (third-order policy change). However, epistemic coalitions are also prone to member infighting and being viewed by states as bureaucratically insular. To reconcile these seemingly contradictory findings, I argue that successful epistemic coalitions must undergo a two-track process of resolving internal deliberative agitation while being perceived as equitably balanced by states. Resolving agitation requires each constituent part to coalesce around a founding organizational narrative. Equity perception stems from a normative congruence between national elites and the epistemic coalition's foundational narrative. The confluence of resolved agitation and equity perception allows for epistemic coalitions to initiate a "teacher-student" socializing (policy learning) relationship with national elite. After such a relationship has been established, an epistemic coalition can act as a traditional policy entrepreneur to bring about third-order policy change when issues relating to their domain of expertise has been brought to the macropolitical agenda through unusually high amounts of press attention. I utilize mixed method within-and-across case studies to induce this hypothesis. The three domains I examine are the International Olympic Committee's role in American steroid prohibition, the role of the European Chemicals Agency in EU plastics regulation, and the role of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in guiding MDMA-assisted psychotherapy through FDA approval.--Author's abstract