Dealing with bad guys: actor- and process-level determinants of the “devil shift” in policy making

Fischer, Manuel; Ingold, Karin; Sciarini, Pascal; Varone, Frédéric

doi:10.1017/s0143814x15000021

Cited by 36 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Many of our explanatory factors rely on actors' perceptions, which are important to understanding environmental policy making (Bennett, 2016;Lubell, 2013) and the behavior of actors in governance systems more generally (Fischer, Ingold, Sciarini, & Varone, 2016;Sabatier, Hunter, & McLaughlin, 1987). Actors are subject to bounded rationality (Jones, 2003;Simon, 1956); that is, they will decide on what is important and what is not important according to their (limited) perceptions of their benefits and costs of forum participation.…”

Section: Dependent and Independent Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Are Cross‐Sectoral Forums Important to Actors? Forum Contributions to Cooperation, Learning, and Resource Distribution

Fischer¹,

Maag²

2019

Policy Studies Journal

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Actors within an ecology of games in a polycentric governance system have to choose from a large number of forums they could participate in. This article analyzes why given types of forums are important to actors, as compared to other forums. It shows that functions of an ecology of games, such as cooperation, learning, and resource distribution, influence the importance that actors attribute to forums. The empirical analysis focuses on cross‐sectoral forums, a particular type of forum that is specialized in coordination among actors from different societal sectors, such as government, private interest, or science. Analysis of survey data from eight cross‐sectoral forums in Swiss habitat and land use governance and their 159 members shows that cross‐sectoral forums are comparatively important to actors that perceive their forum to contribute to learning and resource distribution.

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Section: Dependent and Independent Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Are Cross‐Sectoral Forums Important to Actors? Forum Contributions to Cooperation, Learning, and Resource Distribution

Fischer¹,

Maag²

2019

Policy Studies Journal

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“…In the large number of ACF studies until recently the phenomena of the devil shift has hardly been looked at, which is why the devil shift remains rather isolated from the broader ACF research agenda. Recent research focuses on the influence of the type and the origins of a political conflict on devil shift: Fischer and others () found evidence that in the case of socioeconomic conflicts devil shift is more likely to emerge, since beliefs are consolidated and long‐lasting cleavages hard to change. Also rather unexplored is the development of devil shift and angel shift in a temporal course.…”

Section: Distorted Perceptions In Acf Research and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mutual and Self Perceptions of Opposing Advocacy Coalitions: Devil Shift and Angel Shift in a German Policy Subsystem

Vogeler

Bandelow

2018

Review of Policy Research

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In political conflicts, actors tend to assume that opponents behave maliciously. This phenomena is part of the “devil shift,” which was introduced in advocacy coalition framework research. We present a multivariate analysis of the perceptions of motives and actions of opposing coalitions in a political conflict and thereby analyze a major dimension of the “devil shift” and of its antonym “angel shift.” The conflict concerning the German infrastructure project Stuttgart 21 serves as a case study. We show that the radicalness of policy‐specific beliefs is the most important predictor for the intensity of mutual misperception in the researched conflict. The results further point to a more systematic inclusion of an actor's deep normative core beliefs in future analyses of distorted perception. Another central finding relates to the importance of the personal environment: actors in the subsystem share the same policy core beliefs with the majority of people in their personal environment.

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“…Actors in the same coalition are likely to misconceive members of the other coalition and develop a distorted view of the opposing side's power and motives. The presence of devil shifts hampers the ability to negotiate, find compromises, and take collective action, with potentially negative impacts on policy making in terms of finding solutions seen as legitimate and acceptable by all parties (Fischer et al 2016;Leach and Sabatier 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although empirical studies of the occurrence of the devil shift are rare, some previous ACF work does consider the matter (see Leong 2015;Fischer et al 2016;Sabatier et al 1987). Sabatier et al's (1987) seminal study of US land use policy gave empirical support to the proposition that stakeholders mistrust their opponents' motives and behavior, while the idea of the misinterpretation of power was only partly supported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fischer et al (2016) not only studied the existence of the devil shift but also specified how it relates to the type of policy process and actor, i.e., taking the step from describing the existence of devils shift to explaining why it occurs. Through a comparative study of nine different policy processes in Switzerland, involving a range of policy actors, they concluded that the phenomenon is more likely to emerge among interest groups and political parties than state actors (Fischer et al 2016). The present study is inspired by these previous works to explore the factors influencing the devil shift in different contexts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beliefs, social identity, and the view of opponents in Swedish carnivore management policy

2020

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In the policy sciences, the intractability of disputes in natural resource governance is commonly explained in terms of a "devil shift" between rival policy coalitions. In a devil shift, policy actors overestimate the power of their opponents and exaggerate the differences between their own and their opponents' policy beliefs. While the devil shift is widely recognized in policy research, knowledge of its causes and solutions remains limited. Drawing insights from the advocacy coalition framework and social identity theory, we empirically explore beliefs and social identity as two potential drivers of the devil shift. Next, we investigate the potential of collaborative venues to decrease the devil shift over time. These assumptions are tested through statistical analyses of longitudinal survey data targeting actors involved in three policy subsystems within Swedish large carnivore management. Our evidence shows, first, that the devil shift is more pronounced if coalitions are defined by shared beliefs rather than by shared identity. Second, our study shows that participation in collaborative venues does not reduce the devil shift over time. We end by proposing methodological and theoretical steps to advance knowledge of the devil shift in contested policy subsystems.

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Dealing with bad guys: actor- and process-level determinants of the “devil shift” in policy making

Cited by 36 publications

References 57 publications

Why Are Cross‐Sectoral Forums Important to Actors? Forum Contributions to Cooperation, Learning, and Resource Distribution

Why Are Cross‐Sectoral Forums Important to Actors? Forum Contributions to Cooperation, Learning, and Resource Distribution

Mutual and Self Perceptions of Opposing Advocacy Coalitions: Devil Shift and Angel Shift in a German Policy Subsystem

Beliefs, social identity, and the view of opponents in Swedish carnivore management policy

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