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Swift, brokered and broad-based information exchange: how network structure facilitates stakeholders monitoring EU policy implementation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2018

Reini Schrama Open the ORCID record for Reini Schrama [Opens in a new window]
Reini Schrama*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
*
*Corresponding author. Email: reini.schrama@ifs.ku.dk
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Abstract

Monitoring the implementation process in domestic settings of multi-level policies like the EU gender directives is dependent on interactions among a diverse set of policy stakeholders. However, there is no clear understanding of which factors determine the structure of these monitoring networks and what benefits effective exchange. Drawing on insights from social network theory, literature on information politics in transnational networks and policy network analysis, this study analyses what drives information exchange among actors in the monitoring network of women’s groups in the Netherlands. Using Exponential Random Graph Models, the analysis reveals distinctive structural features facilitating efficient information exchange and significant brokerage in the monitoring network. Moreover, the results demonstrate that interactions that serve the purpose of monitoring EU policy implementation occur among a diverse set of actors in a multi-level structure. These findings indicate that effective monitoring requires resourceful and broad-based information exchange to increase transparency in the implementation process.

Keywords

EU policy implementation – gender equalityexponential random graph modelsinformation exchangemonitoring networksocial network analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 565 - 585
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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Footnotes

Cite this article: Schrama R. 2019. Swift, brokered and broad-based information exchange: how network structure facilitates stakeholders monitoring EU policy implementation. Journal of Public Policy 39: 565–585, doi:10.1017/S0143814X1800017X

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