Nathalie Schiffino

Risk, democracy and schizophrenia: the changing roles of citizens in risk policy-making. Putting GMO policy to the test

For more than two decades, participatory mechanisms have often been invoked as quasi-policy instruments to counterbalance a deficit of legitimacy surrounding political representation. Scientific literature has widely investigated this process. Empirical studies have documented it. However, a blind spot remains. How does this process influence the role of citizens when they are called to sanction political decisions concerning risks, decisions to which they have been at least partly associated? This paper innovatively combines theories of democracy and sequential policy analysis to investigate the articulation of participation and representation when risk issues are regulated. This paper’s theoretical reflection is documented through the example of GMO policy in Europe and, more specifically, in Belgium.

Biomedical Policies in Belgium and Italy: From Regulatory Reluctance to Policy Changes

Belgium and Italy stand out within Western Europe as countries that have shown pronounced reluctance to regulate assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and embryo research in the 1980s and 1990s, while the new millennium brought about major public policy ‘punctuation’. Belgium has changed from a strategy of non-decision to a permissive regulation on embryos and ART practices. Italy has moved from a lack of ART regulation to a relatively restrictive framework. The purpose of this contribution is twofold. First, it aims at explaining Belgium and Italys reluctance to regulate ART until roughly 2000. The authors rely on three explanatory factors: the deeply divided character of societies, the weight and the divisions of political parties, and the autonomy of physicians. Second, referring in part to the punctuated equilibrium model of Baumgartner and Jones, they explain the policy change in both Belgium and Italy in the first decade of the twenty-first century.

The mystery shopper: a tool to measure public service delivery?

Originally the exclusive preserve of the private sector, the mystery shopper technique is increasingly being used in the public sector. In the wake of the reforms to modernise the state, accountability and performance-monitoring exercises are on the rise. They focus, in particular, on service quality and user-customer satisfaction. The article makes a twofold contribution to this topic: methodological and substantive. First of all, the article undertakes a scoping review of the literature on the mystery shopper. This review makes it possible to present the mystery shopper technique and its use in the public sector. For this bibliometric study, a sample of 34 papers was analysed. Second, the article offers a summary of the research into the mystery shopper technique, its potential and its limitations. Points for practitioners This article describes the use of the mystery shopper technique in the public sector. The areas for which mystery shopper surveys are commissioned are relatively limited, most being undertaken in the health sector. However, the scoping review emphasises the potential importance of mystery shopping for the purposes of the evaluation. As such, investigating other areas can be very interesting and promising for the public authorities. We also observe from this literature review that the challenges identified during mystery shopper studies can be overcome.

Post-crisis learning in public agencies: what do we learn from both actors and institutions?

ABSTRACT Post-crisis learning is a challenge for public organizations, and especially for agencies which handle health and environmental risks. This article investigates how the Belgian Food Safety Agency settles mechanisms for drawing lessons from crises while ensuring day-to-day routine. The framework by Crozier and Friedberg is used as a guideline to consider both the actors and the system, both strategic games and institutional constraints. The article helps in understanding the institutional logics underpinning how the public organizations learn from societal risk and crisis. Centralization and openness appear to be guiding principles, resulting from the learning games. They also generate tensions that the actors’ games manage by defining new rules for cooperation. Both the practice (through our case study) and the theory (combining actors and institutions) broaden the lens of policy analysis for what policy-making at organizational level concerns.

The lobbies’ network at the EU policy level: the case of security and defense

Lobbyists may not share the same interests, but they usually agree to form a link in a network which could eventually be used to spread information, to search for potential partners, to speak with one voice to decision makers. In other words, social links represent value for lobbyists because they may ultimately facilitate access. In this article, we explore the network of the Security and Defense lobbies in the EU and we describe its structure.

Uncertainty and Cleavages at stake: Do the Belgian Constitutions of 1831 and 1993 stabilize Political Power?

In our modern States, Constitutions underlie political power and its institutional settings. Two different texts lay the foundation of the Constitutional history of Belgium: the Constitution of 1831 and that of 1993. Each arose during a period of historical change. In 1831, in the shadow of decolonization from the Netherlands, the Constitution created a unitary State. In 1993, in a context of the Europeanization of politics, the Constitution declared a federal State. Over the years, the Belgian polity has undergone dramatic changes. What is puzzling about Belgium is that the constitution-making process has consistently remained in a State of uncertainty. In spite of path dependency and lesson-drawing, constitutional lawmakers, it seems, have not been able to avoid drafting decisions under a veil of ignorance.

Hybridity at the heart of contemporary risk governance: the example of the safety of the food chain in Belgium

What are the changes and challenges facing the public regulator in a context of risk governance? Through the analytical prism developed by Jacques Chevallier, this article proposes to examine the changes in the role of the public regulator by focusing on the style of public policy and governance tools. In the light of the hybridity observed in the study of the system regulating the safety of the food chain in Belgium, the contribution focuses on a double source of instability reflecting the tensions at the heart of the public values structuring the regulation system. A deconstruction of this hybridity reveals the negotiated and conflicting nature of the values underlying the action of the public regulator and its evaluation. Notes for practitioners Based on an inventory of the situation at the heart of the system regulating the risks to the safety of the food chain in Belgium, the contribution identifies the challenges faced by the public regulator in the context of risk governance. Observing the hybrid nature of their involvement, it highlights two sources of tension related to their policy style and their use of regulatory instruments. By considering the possible stabilization measures that could be taken to overcome tensions, three approaches have been identified as a means of adjusting the role of the public regulator, stressing the transversal importance of the findings.

La régulation politique des OGM

Il a fallu quatre ans a la Belgique pour transposer une directive europeenne de 2001 regulant la dissemination volontaire et la commercialisation des organismes genetiquement modifies. Une duree qui s’explique partiellement par les debats voire la controverse que suscitent les OGM. Aucun consensus ne se degage, pas meme au sein de la communaute scientifique, ni sur les risques potentiels ni sur les benefices escomptes des OGM. Les decideurs politiques ont manifeste leur volonte de soutenir le secteur des biotechnologies tout en menageant une opinion publique reactive a la problematique. Apres une description des termes du debat public sur les OGM, Nathalie Schiffino et Frederic Varone presentent les donnees chiffrees sur l’etat de la technique et des produits. Ils abordent ensuite la politique menee depuis le developpement des OGM dans les annees 1970. Les phases marquantes de la regulation sont ainsi mises en evidence. La premiere forme de regulation generale a evolue vers une regulation specifique et institutionnalisee. Ceci n’a pas permis d’eviter une controverse publique ouverte par des crises sanitaires, qui ont conduit a une legislation actualisee en fonction des recentes decisions europeennes. Les auteurs presentent enfin le dispositif actuel de regulation des OGM : les acteurs concernes par la nouvelle reglementation, leurs moyens d’action et les interactions qui se nouent entre eux, ainsi que les questions qu’il pose en matiere de consultation et de participation du public.