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International Relations/Political Science
11 March 2022

The strategic use of diversity in environmental policy networks

Using the 2013 consultation of the European Commission on energy and climate change as a case study, Valentina Baiamonte shows in her recent PhD thesis how the structure and composition of heterogeneous environmental coalitions favour or limit the introduction of novel ideas into the climate change and energy policy debate in Europe. 

Why did you decide to study environmental policy networks?

I grew up in Venice, a unique city where the protection of vulnerable ecosystems spurs several debates on how to manage the environment more sustainably. These debates spur solutions that can emerge from networks of different environmental advocacy groups, working both at the national and local levels, something that academics define as “policy networks”, as I got to discover several years later. As such, I have always been interested in how the complexity of the environmental issues we are facing today, such as climate change, leads to complex social structures and relationships that can favour or jeopardise the creation of solutions to these problems at the local, national, and international levels. My PhD research became an opportunity to combine a topic that I care about deeply, climate change, with something that I also consider practical and useful. In my PhD thesis, I analysed a 2013 consultation of the European Commission on energy and climate change which saw the participation of very heterogeneous formal coalitions, gathering members from the oil, gas and renewable energy sectors and from civil society who favoured opposing policy positions on renewable energy subsidies, or the development of a carbon tax. I used this EU consultation to look at the way in which the structure and composition of heterogeneous formal coalitions favoured or limited the introduction of novel ideas into the climate change and energy policy debate in Europe.

How did you formulate your research questions and what was your methodology?

I opted for a paper-based dissertation to investigate three research questions about diversity in the environmental policy networks that took part in the EU consultation process, the case study of my research. First, diversity defined as policy novelty, and the extent to which the structure of environmental policy networks enables or constrains the introduction of novel ideas; second, the reasons why, in formal coalitions, we can observe members supporting very diverse beliefs and values; third, how to measure policy diversity in a debate in which actors gather into policy networks and coordinate their positions. 

I applied methods and descriptive tools drawn from network analysis and network theory. This quantitative methodology resonated with me as it assumes that the structure of a policy network and the position occupied by an actor across several formal coalitions can enable or limit the introduction of novel ideas. Under this logic, for instance, certain positions in the network of formal coalitions can be more strategic than others, as an actor can be connected to influential others in a policymaking debate, or have access to exclusive information and resources.

What are your major findings?

The research contributes towards understanding how organisations lobby for policy positions and coordinate between each other as part of the policymaking process. Specifically, my research suggests two main findings. First, actors, mostly from the business sector, introduce novel policy positions when they both allocate significant financial resources to lobbying activities and are also not part of large formal coalitions – where novel ideas can get overshadowed by the size of the group. Second, business actors join formal coalitions belonging to an ideologically opposed system of policy core beliefs when joining improves their own credibility, as well as the credibility of the policy positions they currently support (a practice observed, for instance, in cases of greenwashing). 

What are you doing now?

I currently work for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) as Associate in the Redefining Value team. I work with companies from the food and retail industries to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues within their business practices and supply chains. I still have the opportunity to apply the research methods that I learned during my PhD, while working in a stimulating team that values my skills and expertise.

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Valentina Baiamonte defended her PhD thesis in International Relations/Political Science in November 2021. Professor David Sylvan presided the committee, which included Associate Professor James Hollway, thesis director, and Professor Karin Ingold, Institute of Political Science, University of Bern.

Citation of the PhD thesis:
Baiamonte, Valentina. “From Legitimacy to Credibility Strategies: An Analysis of Policy Diversity in Environmental Policy Networks.” PhD thesis, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 2022.

Members of the Graduate Institute can access the PhD thesis on this page of the repository. Others may contact Dr Baiamonte at valentina.baiamonte@graduateinstitute.ch.

Banner picture: excerpt from an illustration by Ihor Serdyukov/Shutterstock.com.
Interview by Nathalie Tanner, Research Office.