Ideational Mechanisms of Change in State Policy Networks: A Multitheoretical Approach for Examining State-Level Policy Change in Educational Subsystems

• In Event: 33.066 - The Role of Politics in Educational Policy Making and Implementation

Abstract

Employing a policy network approach within a multiple theories framework, this paper explicates a unifying analytical framework for examining state-level policy change in educational subsystems. In the politically fluid context of current educational domains, policy networks have strong potential for conceptualizing the contemporary nature of policy-making, in which a loose coordination of private and public actors work together across issues. Likewise, the complex and dynamic nature of state policy-making may not conform to a single theory of the policy process, requiring concepts to be synthesized across theories. This theoretical model addresses these issues by linking subsystem attributes to network characteristics, which I show may then be empirically linked to a number of policy outcomes in educational contexts.

Author

• Sarah Hilary Galey, Michigan State University