ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses general characteristics of policy processes identified in the literature. Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) is a regulatory regime, so it would indeed seem natural to use theories from the regulation literature for analysing IPC. The chapter introduces an analytical framework which can span and explain the entire policy process. It proposes that the implementation studies literature can provide lessons for analysis of the important element of the IPC policy process. The implementation studies literature suggests IPC’s impact on industrial pollution has been dampened at the implementation stage. Studying IPC as a policy process implies the broader policy studies literature can be used legitimately for studying regulation. The chapter discusses the different types of policy network that can exist and the dynamics under which policy networks change. Policy networks arise around policy issues or in policy sectors/sub-sectors. It is the scale, nature and pattern of interactions which define a policy network and which distinguishes different types of network.
