Understanding forest policy change through discourse - a comparative analysis of US and German public forest land policy

在许多区域，森林政策子系统的特点可能是政策联盟之间的长期冲突。行动者试图将他们的信仰和利益纳入公共政策制度的设计中，从而采用各种策略。问题定义和解决方案的话语构建也可以被视为这样一种策略。分析联合斗争的学者特别关注政策变化的分析。在分析德国和美国森林政策的研究中，联盟的做法受到了特别的关注。如果考虑到公共森林的政策，一方面，两国的政策过程有显著的相似之处。另一方面，也发生了截然不同的事态发展。例如，虽然行动者联盟的结构和联盟所采用的策略有许多相似之处，但重大的政策变化只发生在美国。这个项目从这个发现开始：它旨在理解为什么美国的国家森林政策发生了变化——与德国的情况相反。该项目将分三个步骤进行：首先，将在文献中确定触发或阻止政策变化的驱动因素并进行分析，包括对政策变化的不同理论理解。其次，实证研究将特别关注联盟所采用的话语策略。第三，将前两步分析的美国森林政策案例与德国案例进行比较，得出政策变化话语机制的理论结论。关于方法，1)广泛的文献综述，2)选定政策文件的话语分析，以及3)专家访谈将进行。在这个提案中，只申请美国的案例研究，而与德国案例的比较，将使用我已经发表的研究。

In many regions, forest policy subsystems can be characterized by long-lasting conflicts between policy coalitions. Actors try to incorporate their beliefs and interests in the design of public policy institutions, thereby employing various strategies. The discursive construction of problem definitions and solutions can also be seen as such a strategy. Scholars analyzing the coalition struggle pay particular attention to the analysis of policy change. In the studies analyzing German and US forest policy, the coalition approach has received particular attention. If policy on public forests is considered, there are, on one hand, remarkable analogies in policy processes in both countries. On the other hand, there have also been strikingly different developments that have occurred. While, for instance, actor coalition structures and the strategies employed by the coalitions show many analogies, a major policy change occurred only in the US case. This project starts with this finding: It aims at understanding why policy change took place in US forest policy regarding national forests – in contrast to the German case. The project will be undertaken in three steps: First, drivers that have triggered or prevent policy change will be identified in literature and analyzed, including different theoretical understandings of policy change. Second, empirical research will be carried out specifically focusing on the discursive strategies that have been employed by the coalitions. Third, the U.S. forest policy case analyzed in the first two steps will be compared to the German case, and theoretical conclusions on discursive mechanisms of policy change will be derived. Concerning methods, 1) an extensive literature review, 2) discourse analysis of selected policy documents, and 3) expert interviews will be conducted. In this proposal, only the US case study is being applied for, while, for the comparison with the German case, my already published research will be utilized.