Professur Europäische Regierungssysteme im Vergleich






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Promotionskolleg "Politik- und Parteienentwicklung in Europa"

Dipl.-Pol. Britta Walthelm M.A.

How have the 9/11 terrorist attacks stimulated policy change in the UK, Germany and Spain? A study of the dynamics of policy change after significant events

The thesis addresses the question of how the terrorist attacks on the USA of September 11, 2001 stimulated policy change. By way of examining the policy reaction in three large Western European countries - the UK, Germany, and Spain - it will be investigated how the 9/11 attacks stimulated policy change and whether processes of policy change and stability followed similar patterns. For this purpose, the cases studies provide a comparative analysis of the perceptions of policy problems relating to the 2001 events as well as their "digestion" in decision making processes at national levels. The research wants to contribute to the refinement of theories of the policy process, more specifically of theories of policy change and learning after significant events.

The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001 were perceived as major historical events not only in the United States: In the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001, an oratory of "everything has changed" was widely heard all across Western Europe. Political elites emphasised repeatedly and in unison that after the terrorist attacks the world was not the same as before. The events were seen as a violation of fundamental principles by liberal democratic societies alike. In Europe, this was evident in the condemnation of the attack both at the European and national levels. On the international level, perhaps most visibly within the framework of the United Nations, common responses to the novel threat of international terrorism were agreed upon. Moreover, Europe’s political leaders declared that the incidents in the US constituted an attack on all open societies and demanded the Member States of the European Union to proceed jointly.

Although the body of literature on the development of counter-terrorism policies in Europe has expanded remarkably since 2001, systematic accounts of how 9/11 as an event affected policy decisions in Western European states are still missing. The thesis takes up this puzzle and investigates the dynamics of policy change more thoroughly and within a clear cut theoretical framework.

In theoretical terms, the research starts off from the idea that significant “trigger events” can stimulate policy change as they bring up certain issues on the government’s agenda. To analyse the mechanisms behind policy change, the thesis employs the notion of learning. Learning is understood as a process in which individuals involved in policy making (and possibly belonging to groups) deliberately apply experience and new information concerning the policy problem, the potential solutions to the problem and/or arguments they make to advance their preferred policies to policy decisions. Policy change is interpreted as the result of such learning processes in the policy process. If policy change can be linked to a particular event, it constitutes a case of event-related policy change.

 
Foto Walthelm
Dipl.-Pol. Britta Walthelm M.A.

Betreuer der Dissertation: Prof. Dr. Roland Sturm (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)

Hochschulort: Nürnberg

Kontakt: E-Mail britta-walthelm@...