公共政策

PSJ — 2026-04-09 Original Leveraging an Unhappiness Lens for Smarter Policies Marine Coupaud, Gilles Grolleau, Naoufel Mzoughi Abstract ABSTRACT Traditional policy research has largely focused on enhancing happiness or well‐being, privileging positive outcomes as the primary metric of success. We argue that a systematic focus on the drivers of unhappiness—rather than solely on happiness—offers a complementary analytical framework that can uncover hidden societal deficits and broaden the repertoire of policy interventions. By foregrounding unhappiness, scholars and practitioners can identify latent demand, structural inequities, and unintended negative side effects that are often obscured in happiness‐centric analyses. We first articulate why a shift away from predominantly happiness‐driven policies is conceptually necessary, demonstrating that unhappiness signals distinct causal pathways and policy levers. Second, we explain how adopting an unhappiness lens can lead to different—and potentially better—policy outcomes. By integrating unhappiness into the policy toolkit, this paper expands the analytical horizon of scholars and offers policymakers actionable insights for more resilient, equitable, and responsive governance. We introduce several novel theoretical issues that provide a strong foundation for a research agenda on unhappiness and its policy implications. We also caution that misusing unhappiness‐based arguments poses ethical risks and could exacerbate the very problems such arguments aim to address.

PA — 2026-04-07 Original Rethinking Reproductive Governance: What Can Public Administration on the Island of Ireland Learn From Abortion Accompaniment? Anna Theresa Schmid Abstract ABSTRACT The recent decriminalization of abortion marked a crucial step toward improved reproductive care on the island of Ireland. However, this has not translated into fully accessible abortion provision—barriers, including inaccessible services, persist, leaving gaps that public administration has not formally addressed. In response, informal actors, particularly abortion accompaniers, may continue playing a critical role in enabling care. Drawing on asynchronous online discussions with 19 individuals who accompanied abortions over the past decade, this article examines how accompaniment operates not merely as individual support but as a structural necessity that illustrates alternative futures for abortion administration. The analysis demonstrates how accompaniment assumes a quasi‐administrative function, helping individuals navigate bureaucratic systems and compensating for shortcomings in formal provision. It also highlights how accompaniment embodies alternative models of care, rooted in demedicalization and reproductive justice. I outline key learnings for public administration: rethinking abortion governance as a system that centers on accessibility and dignity, learning from accompaniment to design community‐based services, and eliminating bureaucratic barriers to create more equitable abortion care. Current accompaniment practices are not simply a workaround for legal and medical failures but an indicator of systemic shortcomings—offering a blueprint for more accessible reproductive health care that truly serves the public.

PMR — pp. 1-34 2026-04-05 Original Serving the public or checking boxes? Exploring motivations for overcompliance in policy implementation Xue Gao, Quanfeng Shu, Hongtao Yi Abstract Policy implementation research has examined why street-level bureaucrats do not comply with higher-level directives; however, it has paid far less attention to why they overcomply and what this means for policy outcomes. This study addresses this gap by theorizing two competing drivers of overcompliance and analysing China’s national Solar Photovoltaic for Poverty Alleviation Program. We find that formalism is positively associated with overcompliance, while the effect of public-interest commitment is conditional on formalism. The results advance research on policy implementation and public service motivation by showing how intrinsic motivation and organizational norms interact to shape overcompliance and influence policy outcomes.

JOP 88/2 pp. 746-759 2026-04-01 Original The Politics of Disaster Prevention Martin Gilens, Tali Mendelberg, Nicholas Short Abstract Despite the importance of effective disaster policy, governments typically fail to produce it. The main explanation offered by political scientists is that voters strongly support postdisaster relief but not policies that seek to prevent or prepare for disaster. This study challenges that view. We develop novel measures of preferences for disaster prevention and postdisaster relief. We find strong support for prevention policies and candidates who pursue them, even among the subgroups that are the most opposed. Support for prevention has the hallmarks of “real” attitudes: consistency across wordings and response formats, including open-ended probes; steadfastness in the face of arguments; and willingness to make trade-offs against disaster relief, increased taxes, and reduced spending on other programs. Neither cognitive biases for the here and now nor partisan polarization prevent robust majority support for disaster prevention. We validate these survey findings with election results, which suggest voters act on these preferences.

JOP 88/2 pp. 882-887 2026-04-01 Original Executive–Legislative Policymaking Under Crisis Nathaniel A. Birkhead, Jeffrey J. Harden, Jason H. Windett Abstract Does conventional wisdom explain policymaking during a domestic crisis on a novel issue? We consider executive–legislative interactions in the American states during the COVID-19 pandemic to address problems in the study of unilateral executive action. Empirical analyses of crisis policymaking often examine wartime presidents or localized natural disasters but confront difficulties in identifying the status quo policy. COVID-19 created a large-scale domestic crisis and a status quo that was known with relative certainty. We develop a canonical theoretical account of executive–legislative interaction and test it using COVID-19 executive orders issued and legislation introduced and passed during 2020 to 2022. Results show that governors’ proposals met expectations, but legislatures’ responses did not. Instead, partisanship and ideological factors, which crystallized over time, largely determined legislative policy choices. We conclude that standard theory does not adequately account for preference dynamics that might emerge due to delays between the executive’s proposal and the legislature’s response.

PSJ — 2026-03-30 Original Coalition Breakdown and Subsystem Exit Charlie F. Thompson Abstract ABSTRACT Why actors choose to work together (or not) to advance policy has been the central area of inquiry within the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). Existing research has mainly emphasized the pathway towards coalition formation and evolution, underscoring the stable patterns of allies and opponents observable in policy processes over a decade or so. Why coalitions fracture, splinter or dissolve has seldom been theoretically articulated or empirically investigated, which leaves policy process research in the dark on the unstable factors of coalition evolution. This perspectives stresses three modes of coalition breakdown—the process by which an established advocacy coalition (i) fractures—a mode of enhanced internal conflict producing differentiated coordination patterns, (ii) splinters into competing coalitions—where previous allies stop working together entirely, and (iii) dissolves—the subsystem exit of an existing coalition. Focusing on internal threats, but also the external shocks provided by democratic backsliding, the article advances foundational theory on why coalitions fissure, become dormant and collapse—policy dynamics that are expected to continue to persist in an increasingly polarized society.

PSJ — 2026-03-29 Original Designing Integrated Policies for the Twin Transition: Challenges and Tradeoffs Martino Maggetti Abstract ABSTRACT Democratic governance faces the intertwined imperatives of managing the transformative risks and opportunities of digitalization, particularly stemming from artificial intelligence (AI), while achieving environmental sustainability within planetary boundaries. Policymakers worldwide, particularly those involved in the European Union's “twin transition” agenda, often depict these transformations as mutually reinforcing; nonetheless, complementarity cannot be assumed: for instance, digitalization's energy demands threaten climate targets, and, respectively, sustainability goals constrain the scope and direction of technological innovation. To contribute to this discussion, this article examines integrated policy approaches that address both transitions simultaneously. In addition to typical policy integration hurdles about coherence and consistency, three macrochallenges require consideration when designing integrated policies for the twin transition: (1) the misalignment of temporal dynamics between fast‐moving technological change and long‐term environmental crises; (2) the discrepancy in scientific knowledge, consisting of high uncertainty about AI regulation versus a strong consensus in climate science; and (3) the ambivalent nature of transitions, capable of strengthening or undermining democracy in opposite directions. This contribution discusses these challenges, points to existing tradeoffs, and outlines a research agenda. In doing so, it advances policy integration as a means of societal transformation and provides a foundation to connect it with transition policies more systematically.

PSJ — 2026-03-28 Original Resource Substitution: Local Governments' Issue Attention and Policy Reinvention Yingxin Zhang, Yixue Yao, Kaifeng Yang Abstract ABSTRACT Research on policy reinvention, where a government modifies rather than replicates policy innovations introduced by other governments, has progressed significantly, but how it is influenced by the government's issue attention has not been thoroughly examined. This study introduces a resource substitution framework, in which issue attention serves as a type of organizational resource that not only promotes policy reinvention directly but also compensates for deficiencies in systematic resources. Focusing on the organizational structuring policy regarding public data governance in Chinese cities from 2015 to 2023, we employ a directed dyadic‐based Heckman sample selection model with exclusion restrictions to test the hypotheses. The results demonstrate that issue attention significantly promotes policy reinvention, particularly in resource‐constrained settings, where it acts as a functional substitute for systemic resources. These findings contribute to a broader understanding of issue attention and clarify the conditions under which it drives policy reinvention.

GOV 39/2 2026-03-26 Original Responsive to What? Explaining the Information Quality of Public Comments on Bureaucratic Policymaking Using a Text‐as‐Data Approach

PMR — pp. 1-28 2026-03-24 Original Navigating financial distress and perceived vulnerability to build (financial) resilience during austerity: An exploratory study on the responses to shocks in local government