From policy mix to policy networks: assessing climate and land use policy interactions in Mato Grosso, Brazil

ABSTRACT

In the climate and land use fields, policy mixes are complex in terms of the levels of governance, actors, and roles. They consist of policy instruments that target different actors and address multiple goals across several policy sectors and levels. The analysis of these complex arrangements extends beyond purely technical efficiency criteria, as several sources of tension between instruments may be identified, such as conflicting interests, goals, and approaches to implementation. The proliferation of governance networks complicates the understanding of actors’ interactions, the types of authority influencing the outcomes of policy mixes, and importance of different levels of governance. This article provides a framework to address these analytical challenges, particularly the interconnected networks of policy actors and policy instruments. It draws on polycentric governance literature to analyse how power matters in policy networks. This includes identifying distinct types of power, actors’ position, and variables that explain patterns of conflict, competition, convergence, and divergence in policy choices and outcomes. The framework is applied to the climate and land use policies implemented in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Several methods were used to clarify these variables and to characterise policy mixes being implemented in the region, including social network analysis.

KEYWORDS:

• Policy mix
• land use change
• climate change
• Mato Grosso
• Brazil
• network analysis
• polycentric governance

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Fernando Sampaio, Pedro Leitão, Camila Monteiro, and the members of the ‘Produce, Conserve, and Include’ strategy in the state of Mato Grosso who provided insights and expertise that greatly assisted the research design. We would also like to show our gratitude to the reviewers for their helpful comments that contributed to improve the first draft of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Carolina Milhorance, Post-doctoral researcher at the Center for Sustainable Development. Carolina was a research fellow at the French Agricultural Center for International Development (CIRAD) and received her PhD in Political Science and Sustainable Development from the University of Paris Saclay and the University of Brasilia in 2016. Her experience includes technical advice, research development, project management and institutional assistance in Brazilian and international organizations (FAO, OXFAM, OECD, IDDRI, FUNBIO). Her research currently focuses on climate adaptation policies and socio-environmental vulnerabilities, Brazil–Africa and triangular cooperation in the rural sector, and on the role of International Organizations in processes of policy transfer.

Marcel Bursztyn, Marcel Bursztyn is a full professor in the Center for Sustainable Development at the University of Brasília. He holds a B.A. in Economics (1973) and a M.Sc. in Urban and Regional Planning (1976), from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He also holds a Diploma in Planning Studies from the University of Edinburgh (1977), a doctorate in Social and Economic Development, from Université de Paris I (1982) and a doctorate in Economics, from Université de Picardie, France (1988). He was a post-doctoral visiting fellow in Public Policies at Université de Paris XIII and at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris (1989-1991).

Eric Sabourin, Socio-anthropologist, senior Researcher at the French Agricultural Center for International Development (CIRAD) in the Unit Research ART-Dev (Acteurs, Ressources et Territoires dans le Développement), visiting professor at the Center for Sustainable Development from the University of Brasilia until July 2019; coordinator of “Rural Development Public Policies in Latin America” Network from 2010 to 2017. Eric Sabourin has 30 years of research experience on the changes in peasant societies and farmers' organizations and in territorial dynamics, using the approaches of collective action and the theory of reciprocity. Current work concerns the renewal of rural development policies and territorial public action.

ORCID

Carolina Milhorance http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3290-8596

Marcel Bursztyn http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2680-9145

Eric Sabourin http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1171-2535

Additional information

Funding

The project leading to this publication has received funding from the European Commission - Horizon 2020 Research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska Curie [grant number 691053], from Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (project INCT n° 16- 2014 ODISSEIA), and from the French Association Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) under project ARTIMIX N° ANR-17-CE03-0005.