The Politics of the Environment: Ideas, Activism, Policy, 2nd Edition

The environment as a policy problem

7.4 Defining policy change

Hall ( 1993 ) outlines a three-level taxonomy of

policy change:

First-orderchange affects the levels or

settings of basic policy instruments, such as

adjustments to an emissions standard or a

tax rate.

Second-orderchange also sees no change

in the overall policy goals, but involves

alterations in the instruments used to

achieve them, perhaps the replacement of

an emissions standard by an eco-tax.

First- and second-order changes can be seen

as ‘normal policymaking’, in which policy is

adjusted without challenging the existing

policy paradigm.

Third-orderchange is marked by a radical

shift in the overall goals of policy that reflects

a fundamental paradigm shift (such as the

transition from Keynesianism to monetarism

in economic policy). Such radical changes

are rare and usually follow a wide-ranging

process of societal debate and reflection on

past experience, or ‘social learning’.

Although incremental changes in

environmental policy are possible within the

traditional paradigm, an accumulation of first-

and second-order changes will not

automatically lead to third-order changes,

because genuinely radical change requires the

replacement of the traditional paradigm with an

alternative.

7.5 Downs’s issue attention cycle

Stage 1 Pre-problem: Knowledge exists about

a problem, experts and interest

groups may be worried, but public

interest is negligible.

Stage 2 Alarmed discovery and euphoric

enthusiasm:Adramatic event or

discovery makes the public aware of

and alarmed by the problem. People

demand action and the government

promises solutions.

Stage 3 Counting the cost of progress: Both

politicians and the public become

aware of what ‘solving’ the problem

will cost in terms of financial cost and

personal sacrifices.

Stage 4 Gradual decline of intense public

interest: People have second

thoughts. Attention is distracted by

new issues.

Stage 5 Post-problem: Public interest wanes

but the institutions, policies and

programmes set up to solve the

problem remain in place.

Source: Downs ( 1972 ).

Issue attention cycle:The idea that there is

a cycle in which issues attract public

attention and move up and down the

political agenda.

how issues can get onto and ascend agendas, a
crude but influential model, specifically designed
toaccount for the rise and fall of environmen-
talism in America in the early 1970s, was the
issue attention cycle(Downs 1972 )(seeBox7. 5).
The notion that environmental issues go through cycles of attention is
attractive because it resembles the way that public and media interest
latches onto one issue before lurching off in pursuit of another. Moreover,
evidencefrom the USA suggests that peak periods of relevant organisational
activity (new institutions, programmes and policies) often coincide with