Can policy forums overcome echo chamber effects by enabling policy learning? Evidence from the Irish climate change policy network

Paul M. Wagner*, Tuomas Ylä-Anttila

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)
26 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Research has repeatedly shown that individuals and organisations tend to obtain information from others whose beliefs are similar to their own, forming "echo chambers" with their network ties. Echo chambers are potentially harmful for evidence-based policymaking as they can hinder policy learning and consensus building. Policy forums could help alleviate the effects of echo chambers if organisations with different views were to participate and to use the opportunities that forums provide to learn from those outside their networks. Applying exponential random graph models on survey data of the Irish climate change policy network, we find that policy actors do indeed tend to obtain policy advice from those whose beliefs are similar to their own. We also find that actors tend not to obtain policy advice from the those that they encounter at policy forums, suggesting forums are not enabling policy learning.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)194-211
JournalJournal of Public Policy
Volume40
Issue number2
Early online date22 Oct 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • climate change
  • echo chambers
  • forums
  • Ireland
  • policy learning
  • policy networks

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Can policy forums overcome echo chamber effects by enabling policy learning? Evidence from the Irish climate change policy network'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this