The concepts of policy instruments and policy networks have played important roles in recent theoretical development on public policy, as research in several nations attests. These notions, however, have largely been considered in isolation from each other. Here a simple typology of policy networks is used to help explain the selection of different kinds of instruments by governments. Several instrument characteristics are considered for the expected impact of network features on instrument selection, and a set of propositions is developed that matches degrees of network interconnectedness and cohesion with the choice of different kinds of instruments – such as regulations, subsidies, and covenants. Examples from different national and policy-sectoral contexts are used to indicate the plausibility of the argument. The article suggests that considering network attributes can be useful in understanding governments' choice of instruments and can strengthen extant discussions largely focused on such variables as learning and policy style.

Inspired by the New Institutionalism in political science, the article examines the impact of political institutions on welfare state development in Switzerland. This article suggests that the strength of federalism and direct democracy have proved to be stumbling blocks for the expansion of the Swiss welfare state. Direct democracy and federalism have not only geared the path of welfare state evolution in a more liberal direction, but have also dampened social expenditures.

Environmental management typically involves multiple levels of government. Yet the intergovernmental context of environmental management in developing countries is seldom explored in the literature. This paper examines this issue by comparing the experiences in Guangzhou, Delhi, and Taipei, in which various types of unfavourable conditions create different problems for local regulatory enforcement. The study shows that, as commitment from the national government to local regulatory enforcement remains weak, the presence of local democratic institutions, legal remedies, and local environmental activism are key ingredients for checking against local enforcement slack. As legal remedies have various limitations, a bottom-up approach based on local flexibility, democratic processes, and environmental awareness and activism are more likely to bear fruit in the fight against pollution in developing countries.

The article deals with the questions of the emergence, persistence and change of policy paradigms. It focuses on the role that policy networks play in this process and draws on the literature of problem definition to explain this role. The paper investigates water policy in Israel in the years 1948–1997. The paper distinguishes among two water policy paradigms that have prevailed: the earlier paradigm was one of expanding water resources and agricultural production, followed by a paradigm of priority of agricultural expansion over water conservation. The paper also distinguishes among periods of anticipatory and reactive water policy and highlights the role of policy networks in formulating public policies.