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AbstractThis study examines the policy preferences of political groups in the 8th European Parliament regarding the design of agricultural policy and the integration of environmental goals therein. Due to the high degree of Europeanization of the Common Agricultural Policy, the analysis of party positions at the EU level is particularly interesting. To what extent are the positions of political groups changing against the background of the increasing public awareness for environmental and animal welfare issues in agricultural policy? By means of a discourse network analysis of the plenary debates on selected policy proposals during the 8th term of the European Parliament, the positions of the political groups in agricultural policymaking are explored. The comparative analysis clearly reveals differences in problem perceptions and preferred policy solutions between the different political groups. Substantive differences are apparent between the EPP on the one side and the Greens/EFA and the GUE/NGL on the other side. EPP members still mostly represent traditional agricultural goals such as food security and income support for farmers, whereas the Greens/EFA and the GUE/NGL deputies promote a change towards a more environmentally and animal welfare friendly agricultural policy. At the same time, the analysis reveals a broad consensus across political groups regarding the general need to increasingly integrate sustainability concerns in the design of the future Common Agricultural Policy.

ABSTRACT
When policy paradigms compete for sovereignty, a well thought-out narrative story is essential to arguing why one paradigm is superior to another. Narrative stories can be applied to underline the imperative for paradigmatic policy change. Combining Hall's work on policy paradigms with Stone's conceptualisation of narrative stories, this article explores how narrative stories are applied to support or oppose competing policy paradigms and proposes that the systematic analysis of narrative stories fosters a better understanding of policy paradigms. The case of labour market policy in Brazil is used to exemplify the argument: 13 years of Workers' Party rule induced far-reaching changes in Brazilian social and labour market policy based on demand-orientation. Following the impeachment of President Rousseff, interim-President Temer initiated major labour reforms, reviving liberal narratives. This article explores how these policy changes are representative of the competition between policy paradigms, which are reflected in party-political competition, and how recent paradigm change is supported by the construction of narrative stories.

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Farm animal welfare policies are in transition: whereas agricultural policy is traditionally characterised by strong state steering, market actors are getting involved in this field. This study aims to improve understanding of these dynamics in the field of farm animal welfare. By conducting a comparative case study of public and private farm animal welfare policies in Germany and France, the findings illustrate how retailers are assuming a leading role in the field. By introducing animal welfare labels and purchasing guidelines, retailers react to rising societal concerns for the welfare of farmed animals. Governmental actors, conversely, are exercising restraint and engage in voluntary rather than regulatory policies. Contrary to the traditionally strong role of the state in agricultural policy, the contribution indicates a shift towards market-based governance in the field of farm animal welfare. ABSTRACT: The intensification of livestock production and the focus on economic gains of agricultural policy have resulted in animal welfare related challenges. In many countries the societal concern for the welfare of farmed animals is increasing. Whereas policymakers on the European Union's level and in EU member states have passed specific farm animal protection laws, the existing policies do not always guarantee the welfare of farmed animals. At the same time, the engagement of market actors in the field is increasing. This article explores the development of public and private policies in two countries with very different levels of regulation. By conducting a comparative analysis of public and private policies in Germany and France, the findings illustrate that, although they have different starting points, retailers in both countries are getting increasingly involved in farm animal welfare. In addition, there is evidence that governmental policies are shifting from regulatory to voluntary approaches in cooperation with the private sector. Given that in both countries these dynamics are a very ...

AbstractIn the field of agricultural policy, farm animal welfare is gaining importance. At the European Union level, animal welfare policies have been developing since the 1970s. However, national regulations vary considerably between member states. The study provides a systematic comparison of farm animal welfare regulations in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK and explores the factors that influence differences by applying theories from comparative policy analysis. Firstly, in four of the five countries the level of societal concern influences animal welfare policies. Secondly, a connection between the level of societal concern and the emphasis of political parties on farm animal welfare is identified. The findings contribute to the exploration of a hitherto under‐researched area in public policy, the field of farm animal welfare.

Societal concerns for the welfare of animals are increasing: a majority of Europeans believe that farm animals should be better protected. Even so, there is no systematic policy analytic assessment of the development and the determinants of animal welfare policy. This paper addresses these research gaps and contributes to the inclusion of the field of animal welfare in policy analysis. Austria, Germany, and Switzerland share comprehensive legislation in the field of farm animal welfare. However, concrete policies vary considerably between the three countries. Through an international comparison, the paper characterizes diverging policy instruments and identifies possible determinants of farm animal welfare policy derived from established theories of policy analysis. While perspectives focusing on party political difference add to the understanding of farm animal welfare policy in Germany and in Austria, this does not apply to the case of Switzerland. Here, theories focusing on the degree of international economic integration have a greater potential in understanding cross‐national differences. The paper thereby presents a first systematic assessment of farm animal welfare from a policy analysis perspective.

AbstractThe literature has described trade unions' positions towards both precarious workers and migrant workers as ambivalent. By studying an extreme case, the meat-processing industries in the United Kingdom and in Germany, we show how trade unions were decisive in both countries in bringing exploitative working conditions on the political agenda and in advancing policy change. However, the strategies through which trade unions contributed to this differed remarkably, highlighting different causal pathways in both countries. The British case can clearly be seen as an example of successful union revitalisation by relying on innovative strategies. In contrast, the German story exhibits a strong reliance on a more traditional approach to improving workers' rights, which was only successful after employers were willing to improve working conditions in the sector as well. Our analysis shows that policy change can happen despite unfavourable conditions and weak actors, especially if these actors make strategic use of situational conditions.

AbstractIn political conflicts, actors tend to assume that opponents behave maliciously. This phenomena is part of the "devil shift," which was introduced in advocacy coalition framework research. We present a multivariate analysis of the perceptions of motives and actions of opposing coalitions in a political conflict and thereby analyze a major dimension of the "devil shift" and of its antonym "angel shift." The conflict concerning the German infrastructure project Stuttgart 21 serves as a case study. We show that the radicalness of policy‐specific beliefs is the most important predictor for the intensity of mutual misperception in the researched conflict. The results further point to a more systematic inclusion of an actor's deep normative core beliefs in future analyses of distorted perception. Another central finding relates to the importance of the personal environment: actors in the subsystem share the same policy core beliefs with the majority of people in their personal environment.

AbstractResearch on dynamics within the European Parliament frequently draws on group‐based explanations – such as parties and national affiliations – for the behaviour of its members. Hence, there is a growing interest in the question of how policy issues trigger the salience of group memberships and whether partisan or national group memberships – and which of them – rank higher when voting on issues. This article provides answers to these questions by presenting empirical evidence on the group memberships that are decisive for the voting behaviour of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). In theoretical terms, it introduces the social‐psychological perspective on social identities to European Union (EU) parliamentary research. Methodologically, the article relies on a qualitative comparative analysis of voting results in three resolutions of the 9th EU legislative term. The findings emphasize a hierarchy of salient social identities and reveal that some national and some partisan identities are stronger than others in the European Parliament.

AbstractThe Programmatic Action Framework (PAF) is a powerful analytical perspective to advance our understanding of policy change by stressing the role of programmatic groups and how they promote their preferred policy programs. While the PAF has been applied successfully to European countries and the US, a considerable research gap remains regarding its explanatory power in other regions and political settings. To step into this research gap, we apply the PAF to authoritarian China through a qualitative case study of the making of "Healthy China 2030", a national health policy program. We explore two research questions: firstly, to what extent can the PAF be operationalized in a nondemocracy to identify programmatic groups and evaluate policy design, and second, what are the limitations and challenges facing the application of the PAF to nondemocracies? Our empirical analysis shows that the design of this policy program involves actors from different policy areas, despite the top‐down political structure. With regards to the transfer of PAF hypotheses, we show that the framework is a helpful lens to identify programmatic groups and to evaluate policy programs' potential for success based on coherence, responsiveness, and program fit. Meanwhile, the research process of our study revealed the challenges of applying policy process theories to China, including hard‐to‐reach political actors for data collection, lack of transparency regarding collaboration processes between actors, and a lack of publicly available program‐related information.