Combinatorial perspective on ideas, concepts, and policy change

The evolution of environmental policy is increasingly driven by the emergence
and interaction of policy concepts and the frameworks, knowledge, and ideas
they employ. We argue that policy actors’ creative use of policy concepts often
leads to their combinatorial development. In this policy process, the concepts
interact and shape each other’s policy relevance and future development under
the influence of ideas, knowledge, and political factors. We formulate this new
research approach using ideational and policy process theories. In particular, we
explicate internal and contextual combinatory elements that enable policy
change resulting from mutual development of policy concepts. For an empirical
demonstration, we analyze the conceptual innovation, rise, and ramifications of
nutrient recycling as a new segment of Finnish environmental policy.