Linking Policy Networks and Environmental Policies: Nitrate Policy Making in Denmark and Sweden 1970‐1995

The policy network literature has provided important insight into the way in which public policy is made in Western societies. Most network studies have focused on processes within networks and have paid little attention to the conceptualization of policy outcomes and the theoretical link between network type and policy type. This article defines and categorizes environmental policy and suggests a proposition on the link between network types and environmental policy types. It is argued that the existence of tight and closed policy communities in sectors subject to environmental regulation is associated with the introduction of low cost environmental policies. In contrast, open and loose issue networks are associated with high cost environmental policies.