Homophily and coordination in a nascent policy subsystem: applying the ACF to the Swiss biodiversity policy

The continuous decline in biodiversity is a threat to humans as we depend on its contributions in many facets of our societies. Although the mitigation of biodiversity loss is regarded by many as an urgent issue, the methods, or resources to mitigate it and its prioritisation over other societal issues lacks consensus. In Switzerland, the urgency of the issue was set when the conservation and promotion of biodiversity were established in the Swiss Biodiversity Strategy as a federal objective in 2012, then through concrete measures in the Action Plan in 2017. For biodiversity to improve, additional land needs to be selected and protected–a process that is currently being undertaken by the cantonal administration through the planning of the Ecological Infrastructure (EI). As the cantons contain a varied assortment of land uses, the planning of the EI involves other spatially intensive sectors and requires consensus from a varied and heterogenous set of actors. In a country where political polarisation is increasing, developing a policy requiring acceptance from actors competing over limited land is bound to face severe challenges. Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) as an analytical lens, we use a mixed method approach combining in-depth interviews of 13 experts and closed question surveys of 46 policy actors in four cantons in Switzerland, to answer our main research question: what role do shared beliefs (i.e. homophily) and coordination play in the forming of advocacy coalitions in a nascent policy subsystem? Data from the expert interviews is used to uncover the policy landscape in the cantons, the main areas of conflict, and the varied policy beliefs. Drawing on these results, we elaborate a survey measuring actors’ policy beliefs, as well as various components on their interactions. Multidimensional scaling and social network analysis are used to analyse the relationship between homophily and coordination. From the interviews, we found two main policy belief types: (1) actors who prioritise land use for nature and biodiversity protection, and (2) actors who prioritise land use for production (e.g., energy, agriculture). Furthermore, actors anticipate difficulties during the implementation phase, as the cantons lack regulative instruments to enforce it. The results from the social network analysis show a large variance of coordination that does not correlate with homophily, indicating that shared beliefs are not a determinant of cooperation patterns. We conclude by reflecting on the link between with homophily and coordination in the formation of advocacy coalitions.