The role of actors' issue and sector specialization for policy integration in the parliamentary arena: an analysis of Swiss biodiversity policy using text as data

Abstract

The role of the parliamentary arena and members of parliament (MPs) therein for both mainstreaming and cross-sectoral policy integration is largely unknown. Studying the case of Switzerland, this paper analyzes the integration of the biodiversity issue into policies of 20 different policy sectors over a period of 19 years to assess how two specific actor attributes—issue and sector specialization—increase the chances of MPs of engaging in both biodiversity mainstreaming and its cross-sectoral integration. The results based on a comprehensive collection of political documents from the parliamentary arena, and multilevel regression models show that an increase in MPs' sector specialization is associated with both a decrease in mainstreaming and a decrease in cross-sectoral integration activities. By contrast, an increase in issue specialization typically translates into biodiversity-related activity in a larger number of sectors. In the parliamentary arena, therefore, it is primarily a small group of “issue specialists” who take responsibility for the integration of crosscutting issues, such as biodiversity, into critical sectoral policies.

Policy integration as a political process

“…In their analysis of parliamentarians' contribution to policy integration in Swiss biodiversity policy, Reber et al demonstrate that the more specialized members of parliament are in a policy field, the less they focus on integrated aspects of public policy. Nevertheless, the more specialized and developed some policy issues are, the more likely they become to be integrated into a larger number of other policy sectors (Reber et al, 2023). Therefore, actor specialization at the level of parliament has an indirect effect on policy integration.…”