RT Journal Article
T1 Information processing in the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy
A1 Princen, Sebastiaan
A1 Siderius, Katrijn
A1 Villasante Larramendi, Carlos Sebastián
K1 Disproportionate information processing
K1 European Union
K1 Fisheries policy
K1 Punctuated equilibrium theory
K1 Thermostatic policy change
AB The policy studies literature is divided on how information processing takes place in policy processes. Punctuated equilibrium theory claims that policymakers tend to process information disproportionately, giving more weight to some incoming signals than to others. By contrast, thermostatic models of policymaking argue that policymakers respond in a more proportionate way. In this paper, we analyse information processing in the adoption of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) under the European Union’s (EU) Common Fisheries Policy. Based on a novel measure for the proportionality of information processing, it shows that over time TACs have become more closely aligned with incoming signals about fish stocks. This development can be explained through a combination of changing discourses around fisheries conservation and institutional adjustments in EU fisheries policy. This analysis has implications for the debate between punctuated equilibrium and thermostatic models of policymaking and our understanding of the effectiveness of EU fisheries policies.
PB Cambridge University Press
SN 0143-814X
YR 2021
FD 2021
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/42805
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/42805
LA eng
NO Princen, S., Siderius, K., & Villasante, S. (2021). Information processing in the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy. Journal of Public Policy, 41(3), 532–552. doi:10.1017/S0143814X20000124
NO S. V. acknowledges funding from the EU COST Action “Ocean Governance for Sustainability - Challenges, Options and the Role of Science” and the ICES Science Fund Project “Social Transformations of Marine Social-Ecological Systems”.
DS Minerva
RD 28 abr 2026