To what extent do actors’ individual values and preferences matter in policy processes? The case of micropollution in the Netherlands

The phenomenon of micropollution increasingly challenges modern societies. This thesis contributes to understand the policy process about the reduction of micropollutants in the Netherlands. The policy process is analyzed from an actor perspective as the applied theory, the Advocacy Coalition Framework, regards actors and their individual belief systems as the main driving force of policy processes. Data collected within a questionnaire from the actors involved are evaluated by conducting a cluster analysis enabling the identification of actors’ beliefs and a subsequent Social Network Analysis depicting collaboration-behavior among the actors. The results show that because of the non-advanced stage of the policy process, contrarily to the predicted outcome by the theory, one core coalition only was found containing almost all actors involved. The lack of opposite competing coalitions which usually push policy processes is causing the stagnation in reducing micropollution. The Netherlands play a laggard role in tackling the problem of micropollution not having implemented legally binding measures yet. Besides, there is a need for international cooperation in the field of micropollution to effectively counteract the problem since waters transport micropollution from country to country.