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NEW RESEARCH | How politicians can be more successful with big social missions
- Published: 12 Feb 2025,
- 1:50 PM
- Updated: 12 Feb 2025,
- 3:35 PM
Missions have become a popular way to address major societal challenges, such as climate change and industrial transition. But how should policy decisions be designed to ensure the success of missions?
This is what Barbara Hedeler, Chalmers, investigates in her doctoral thesis. Her research shows that strategic and well-considered policy decisions are crucial for governing and promoting sustainable transitions.
– There is a belief that missions can help solve major societal problems, but it is still unclear how the required mix of policies should be designed and implemented, says Barbara Hedeler.
By analyzing how the process industry in the Nordic countries has changed over time, she draws conclusions about how political decisions can contribute to successful social missions. She highlights the development of the biofuel industry in Finland and Sweden as a concrete example.
– Both countries had similar conditions, but 20 years later the biofuels industry looks very different. The differences are due to the way national policies have been designed and implemented, such as the choice between taxes and quotas, and how these measures have been combined with other instruments, she explains.
Guidelines for effective policy
To create successful missions, Barbara Hedeler proposes five guidelines on how policies can be designed:
- Define the problem clearly: decide which sectors and areas are affected.
- Determine the solutions: Clarify which technologies and methods should be included in the strategy.
- Learn from history: Analyze past change processes to understand what factors influence the outcome.
- Designing effective policy packages: Ensure that different policy instruments, such as taxes, subsidies and regulations, complement each other.
- Monitor and adjust: Evaluate how stakeholders respond to policy measures and adjust the strategy as needed.
Challenges for policy makers
Barbara Hedeler also points to several challenges faced by politicians and public authorities when implementing public policy. A key difficulty is that different authorities are often responsible for different parts of the same issue, which can create conflicts and lead to inefficient cooperation.
– Another challenge is to get an overview of how different rules and incentives interact. “It is easy for individual measures to counteract each other if they are not coordinated, she points out.
To address these challenges, policymakers should think strategically about how different policies are combined and how timing affects the outcome.
Knowledge for the future
Barbara Hedeler hopes her research can provide policymakers with a better understanding of how policy decisions can create more robust and sustainable approaches to public service missions.
– There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but we can learn important lessons from past experiences. By designing smart and coordinated policy measures, we increase the chances of success of large missions, she says.
Contact barbara.hedeler@ait.ac.at
More about the thesis
Barbara Hedeler recently defended her doctoral thesis at Chalmers with Mission-oriented policies for sustainable transitions: Lessons from the Nordic industry transformation.
