Exploring the Influence of Local Policy Networks on the Implementation of Drug Policy Reform: The Case of California's Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act

摘要

The network theme has emerged as an important component of public management and public policy research. Previous inquiries into policy networks have often relied on a limited number of cases making it difficult to assess the systematic influence of policy network characteristics on policy outputs and outcomes across different contextual environments. Using a study of California's Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (SACPA), this research investigates whether variation in county implementation network structural characteristics and network behavior facilitates (or impedes) effective implementation of the initiative. Incorporating original survey data, results show that greater policy goal congruence, policy expertise, and financial resources, and the presence of joint governance structures that build capacity for collective action improves client drug treatment completion rates across California's 58 counties. How a county network targets SACPA funds and communication levels within a network are also shown to influence treatment completion.