Strategic State Capacity: How States Counter Opposition to Climate Policy
2021/07/16 by Jonas Meckling, Jonas Nahm · 159 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · #Bureaucracy #Economic system #Economics #Law #Limiting #Opposition (politics) #Policy Transfer and Learning #Political Influence and Corporate Strategies #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Public administration #Social Policy and Reform Studies
paper · doi:10.1177/00104140211024308
published in Comparative Political Studies 55(3), 493-523 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2021/07/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Abstract
When can states implement policies against the opposition from powerful interest groups? Research on state capacity has examined bureaucratic sources of capacity, leaving unexplained why countries with similar levels of bureaucratic capacity vary in goal attainment. We introduce the notion of strategic state capacity to explain this puzzle. It refers to the ability of the state to mobilize or demobilize interest groups in pursuit of policy goals. We identify four general types of strategies states use to counter opposition: recruiting allies, aligning interests, limiting access, and quieting interests. We examine these in cases on climate and clean energy policymaking in California, France, Germany, and the United States. Climate politics is an increasingly important field of distributive politics with powerful opposition from interest groups. The concept of strategic state capacity complements bureaucratic notions of capacity to show how the state actively organizes its relations with interest groups to advance policy goals.
Citations
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