How scholars break down “policy coherence”: The impact of sustainable development global agendas on academic literature

Abstract

Literature on policy coherence (PC) has been expanding particularly since the diffusion of the 2030 Agenda to better understand intersectoral policymaking and steering governance complexity in sustainable development, environmental and climate policies. Through research domain analysis, this article gives systematic evidence regarding the rise of PC literature; moreover, via content analysis, the research highlights the most relevant topics addressed by PC articles published over the last 20 years. Our analysis pinpoints that policy coherence has been studied regarding some research areas, such as sustainable development, environment, climate change, and the increasing transboundary governance concerns. Thus far, PC has been scrutinized mainly by addressing the implementation phase. Evidence suggests that, within the 2030 Agenda framework, future research and theoretical efforts should consider neglected dimensions of the policy process and incorporate them in a process‐oriented analytical framework.

How does policy coherence shape effectiveness and inequality? Implications for sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda

“…Likewise, we need to better understand how deep‐rooted inequalities can limit the effectiveness of coherence as a policy tool for reducing inequality. Focus on the consequences of (in)coherence . Our systematic approach revealed a narrow evidence base for empirical evidence of the outcomes of (in)coherence, reinforcing similar findings of others (Righettini & Lizzi, 2022). The evidence is particularly limited for outcomes relating to inequality.…”

“…Only two of the studies focus explicitly on the SDGs. Overall, the body of evidence is recent—with nearly three‐quarters ( n = 28) of the studies published in 2015 or later—reflecting the rising interest in policy coherence since the adoption of the SDGs (Righettini & Lizzi, 2022). Most studies used qualitative approaches ( n = 27), with a smaller number using quantitative ( n = 8) and mixed ( n = 5) approaches.…”

“…We define policy incoherence as the absence of such systematic policymaking. Policy coherence is conceptualized in many ways in the literature (Righettini & Lizzi, 2022), including as policy integration (Azizi et al, 2019; Trein et al, 2023), policy coordination (Rasul & Neupane, 2021), policy mixes (Kosow et al, 2022), mainstreaming (Owusu‐Manu et al, 2020), and “whole of government” and “joined up government” approaches (Zeigermann, 2018). Coherence can include both horizontal dimensions (i.e., across sectors or government agencies and departments) and vertical dimensions (i.e., across levels of government).…”

How green are our laws? Presenting a normative coherence for sustainable development methodology

“…Most of these studies incorporate policy definition, implementation and monitoring (impacts) in their objectives. Evaluation is less emphasized (Righettini & Lizzi, 2021). This study proposes an evaluation methodology for the normative dimension of regulation.…”

Exploring food security as a multidimensional topic: twenty years of scientific publications and recent developments

“…These methods exploit algorithms and software to apply statistical analysis to textual data in electronic format (Sbalchiero 2018). They automate the process of data encoding and analysis, thus combining the advantage of timesaving with the possibility to investigate the main topics and issues discussed in the literature without any prior theoretical or analytical constraints (Sbalchiero and Eder 2020;Righettini and Lizzi 2021). However, while their application to the analysis of social media and political documents is growing, they remain marginal in literature reviews.…”