LIST OF WORKSHOPS

Since the 1990s the attention of public policy scholars has increasingly shifted from the national (and European) level to the international and global levels of public policy (Knill and Tosun, 2013: 223). With the second globalization, associated to growing economic and technological interdependency between states, so as to the acceleration of international transport and communication possibilities, public policies are more and more analyzed beyond the Nation State.

This shift of the attention from national (and local) levels to supranational levels has triggered two evolutions in the literature. The first one is the development of “global policies” studies, as the creation of journals dedicated to these new policy levels illustrates (Global Policy, Global Social Policy…). Global public policies can be defined as: “the processes of transnational cooperation and conflict, involving both state and non-state (domestic and international) agents, by which policies are produced to problems related to the global scale” (Porto de Oliveira, 2022: 63). The focus is on the role of transnational actors and interactions in the global circulation of policy ideas and policy instruments. It encompasses different supranational dimensions of a public policy.

The making of public policy in a context of globalization is subject to circulations, transfers and adaptations according to dominant accounts of 'best practices'. While the intensification of these flows is widely acknowledged and public policy and administration studies have developed sound comparative approaches, relatively less attention is being paid to the analysis and conceptualization of international public policy-making by states but also international public administrations and their bureaucracies, transnational corporations and their forms of transnational mobilization, as well as transnational NGOs and  citizen grassroots organizations and their transnational reach.

This is why this workshop is more focused on the second perspective: the analysis of international public policies, combining public policy and international relations perspectives. Even if the difference and boundaries with global public policies is not always clear and the overlaps are important, the notion of international public policy is more specifically focused on the role of international (intergovernmental) organizations in the tackling of policy issues historically developed at local and national levels. Our specific objective is to foreground sociological analyses of international policy-making and policy processes (notably issue framing, agenda setting, policy formulation, decision-making and implementation).

The development of international public policies has started with the shaping of the first international organizations in the second half of the 19th century for transport, trade, communication and public health issues. This trend has been strengthened with the creation of new international organizations after WWII, in relation with the United Nations, especially for refugees (HCR), health (WHO), food and agriculture issues (FAO), and for global economic governance with the Bretton Woods institutions. The scope of public policies tackled by international organizations has widened at the end of the 20th century with the creation of the UNEP (1972) and the WTO (1994). International organizations have become a classical dimension of international relations, yet they are still marginal in the public policy field which has more developed the analysis of transnational actors, especially transnational expertise, based on the notion of “epistemic communities” (Haas, 1992).

In international relations perspectives the role of international organizations has been notably analyzed with the notion of “international regimes” (Krasner, 1983), which has been adapted to public policies issues (especially international trade) and not only to issues linked to war and peace. The starting point of this workshop is the analysis of the shaping and development of international public policy regimes combining the four dimensions of a public policy (Hassenteufel, 2021):

-a dominant orientation, based on the framing of the key policy issues, in relation with the use of knowledge and values;

-international and transnational actors structured around these issues: international organizations, NGOs, think tanks, multinational companies, foundations, epistemic communities…;

-institutionalized rules of interactions between international, national and transnational policy actors;

-policy instruments: not only regulatory also financial, fiscal, economic…

The aim of the workshop is to discuss methodological and conceptual issues related to international public policy regimes in various policy fields: health, migrations, environment, food and agriculture, trade, energy, economic development, education, social policies, financial and monetary regulation…

From a methodological point of view, the focus of the workshop is on the sociological analysis of these international and transnational policy actors at the different stages of international public policy processes:

-Problem framing by various actors and agenda setting in international organizations and arenas;

-Policy formulation, focusing on the role of international and transnational expertise in the shaping of international policy instruments;

-Policy decision, based on international negotiations on policy issues, including geopolitical and political dimensions for the understanding of the position and strategies of the participating states;

-Policy implementation in a multi-level perspective, considering that most of the international public policy instruments are not compulsory (soft law, incentives…), what gives more room to national and local actors involved in the implementation than at other policy levels.

Therefore, the main methodological issues raised by this workshop are:

-the internal analysis of international organizations and of transnational actors with qualitative methods (ethnography, observation…), used in public administration and international relations (Ege, Bauer, 2013), also in sociology of mobilization and sociology of interest groups perspectives;

-the interactions between the different policy actors acting in international arenas (also between international organizations which often compete on the same policy issues, between states with different political and geopolitical orientations, between transnational actors who are often structured in coalitions…) by using qualitative (interviews, observation…) and quantitative methods (especially network analysis);

-the empirical analysis of the implementation of international policy instruments at national and local levels.

 Our workshop thus seeks to bring together contributions from a wide range of sectors, across different levels of analysis, and in relation to different categories of actors in order to nourish collective discussions around the making and implementation of international public policies. To illustrate these points through a few emblematic examples, we can mention key international actors in the fields of health, migration and the environment, such as the WHO, the IOM and the UNFCC. While these three thematic issues arguably undergo an intensification of internationalization by being increasingly constructed as a ‘global issue’, the corresponding international regimes raise different, yet complementary, conceptual questions.

While international health regulations of the World Health Organization (WHO) date back to 1969, the organization has since then developed a series of global policy tools. It has for instance encouraged the creation of ‘public health emergency operations centers’ at national levels for the dissemination of best practices and it has built a global network around them. This IO has also established in 2011 the ‘Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework’ to facilitate creation and access of influenza vaccines, supporting hence international convergence in health-related public policies. More recently, the elaboration of the ‘Covid-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan’ has foregrounded the organization’s global policy reach. While the WHO represents a key actor for health-related international public policies, notably through the establishment of global health standards, the deployment of capacity-building programs and the implementation of global public awareness campaigns, it is facing criticism regarding transparency in policy formulation and decision which foregrounds the broader question of legitimacy and constituency for the policy cycle of international public policies.

In the field of migration governance, a stronghold of sovereign power, the past decades have also seen the development of supranational instruments, notably following the 2016 New York declaration for migrants and refugees, adopted by the UN General Assembly, that acknowledged the need for more international cooperation and paved the way for the 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. While the Compact is not legally binding and has thus been critiqued as to its limited policy implementation potential, the inclusive process that led to its adoption, with an active role played by NGOs and civil society organizations at different preparatory stages, sustains the instrument’s relevance to migration-related public policies and the international arenas thus created carve out space for enhanced policy transfers.

Our third example, policies and instruments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change amount by now to a UN climate change regime with a complex and continuously developing governance. The 2015 Paris Agreement represent for instance a global and legally binding treaty articulated with national public policies through climate action plans that determine countries’ state-level contributions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) constitutes furthermore a primary example of a transnational epistemic community holding an institutionalized role in setting an agenda for the making of international climate policies (De Pryck, 2022).

Overall, the aim of this workshop is to go a step further in the conceptualization of the development of international public policies by combining different analytical perspectives analyzing sociologically international relations and policy processes : sociology of internal organizations, the role of international and transnational policy communities in the framing of policy issues, analysis of multilevel negotiations, the structuration of instrument constituencies, the mobilization and structuration of transnational policy actors…

The making of public policy in a context of globalization is subject to circulations, transfers and adaptations according to dominant accounts of 'best practices'. While the intensification of these flows is widely acknowledged and studies of global public policies have been developed, relatively less attention is being paid to the analysis and conceptualization of international public policy-making. This is why this workshop is focused on the analysis of international public policies, combining public policy and international relations perspectives. Even if the difference and boundaries with global public policies is not always clear and the overlaps are important, the notion of international public policy is more specifically focused on the role of international (intergovernmental) organizations in the tackling of policy issues, historically developed at local and national levels. Our specific objective is to foreground sociological analyses of international policy-making and policy processes (notably issue framing, agenda setting, policy formulation, decision-making and implementation).

In international relations perspectives the role of international organizations has been notably analyzed with the notion of “international regimes” (Krasner, 1983), which has been adapted to public policies issues (especially international trade) and not only to issues linked to war and peace. The starting point of this workshop is the analysis of the shaping and development of international public policy regimes combining the four dimensions of a public policy (Hassenteufel, 2021):

-a dominant orientation, based on the framing of the key policy issues, in relation with the use of knowledge and values;

-international and transnational actors structured around these issues: international organizations, NGOs, think tanks, multinational companies, foundations, epistemic communities…;

-institutionalized rules of interactions between international, national and transnational policy actors;

-policy instruments: not only regulatory also financial, fiscal, economic…

In this workshop we want to discuss methodological and conceptual issues related to international public policy regimes with papers analyzing various policy fields such as health, migrations, environment, food and agriculture, trade, energy, economic development, education, social policies, financial and monetary regulation…

From a methodological point of view, the focus is on the sociological analysis of these international and transnational policy actors at the different stages of international public policy processes. We welcome papers raising methodological issues such as:

-the internal analysis of international organizations and of transnational actors with qualitative methods (ethnography, observation…), used in public administration and international relations (Ege, Bauer, 2013), also in sociology of mobilization and sociology of interest groups perspectives;

-the interactions between the different policy actors acting in international arenas (also between international organizations which often compete on the same policy issues, between states with different political and geopolitical orientations, between transnational actors who are often structured in coalitions…) by using qualitative (interviews, observation…) and quantitative methods (especially network analysis);

-the empirical analysis of the implementation of international policy instruments at national and local levels.

Overall, the aim of this workshop is to go a step further in the conceptualization of the development of international public policies by combining different analytical perspectives analyzing sociologically international relations and policy processes in different policy fields.

This workshop is focused on the analysis of international public policies, combining public policy and international relations perspectives. Even if the difference and boundaries with global public policies is not always clear and the overlaps are important, the notion of international public policy is more specifically focused on the role of international (intergovernmental) organizations in the tackling of policy issues, historically developed at local and national levels. Our specific objective is to foreground sociological analyses of international policy-making and policy processes (notably issue framing, agenda setting, policy formulation, decision-making and implementation).

In international relations perspectives the role of international organizations has been notably analyzed with the notion of “international regimes” (Krasner, 1983), which has been adapted to public policies issues. The starting point of this workshop is the analysis of the shaping and development of international public policy regimes combining the four dimensions of a public policy (Hassenteufel, 2021):

-a dominant orientation, based on the framing of the key policy issues, in relation with the use of knowledge and values;

-international and transnational actors structured around these issues;

-institutionalized rules of interactions between international, national and transnational policy actors;

-policy instruments.

In this workshop we want to discuss methodological and conceptual issues related to international public policy regimes with papers analyzing various policy fields such as health, migrations, environment, food and agriculture, trade, energy, economic development, education, social policies, financial and monetary regulation…

From a methodological point of view, the focus is on the sociological analysis of these international and transnational policy actors at the different stages of international public policy processes.

Overall, the aim of this workshop is to go a step further in the conceptualization of the development of international public policies by combining different analytical perspectives analyzing sociologically international relations and policy processes in different policy fields.

Patrick Hassenteufel is professor of political science at the University of Paris-Saclay (Graduate School Sociology and Political Science). His main research field is healthcare. His current  research is on the territorialization of healthcare systems in Europe, in a multilevel perspective.

Nina Sahraoui is CNRS assistant professor at the University of Paris-Saclay (Graduate School Sociology and Political Science). Her main research field is migration. Her current research is on climate migrations in a multilevel and multi-situated comparative perspective.