Instrument constituencies in the policy process:

What makes them unique? A theoretical review

Abstract

This paper reviews the empirical applications of the concept of instrument constituencies. Instrument constituencies comprise diverse actors (academics, bureaucrats, consultants, and practitioners) whose common interest is the promotion of a particular policy instrument or a set of instruments. Building on the seminal work by Voss and Simons (2014), the paper surveys existing case studies and examines empirical observations that support the propositions associated with the concept. The analysis connects the empirical observations to the propositions associated with the concept and reflects on their distinctiveness relative to other collective entity concepts in the policy process. Through an assessment of the theoretical uniqueness of the empirical predictions, the paper demonstrates that while some case studies identify empirical patterns consistent with the propositions, the confirmatory power of the observations varies. The paper concludes by arguing that future research on instrument constituencies should more consciously focus on predicted observations with stronger discriminatory power in relation to other established concepts. The analysis also demonstrates the general value of assessing the theoretical uniqueness of predicted evidence as described by Beach and Pedersen (2016) for case studies that rely on theories of the policy process.