The Policy Process is influenced by many factors including:
Knowledge and innovation:
- Knowledge and innovation impacts policy by catalyzing new debates and/or creating awareness of new opportunities.
Social, political and economic context:
- Priorities in political and development terms, openness to international influences (of all sorts);
- Resources likely to be available to policy makers and so on; and
- Who can participate in policy and how, and it defines the forms of legitimacy of and governance associated with environment management and policy processes.
Legal framework:
- Specific laws directly related to chemical health risk management; and
- Laws that define institutional processes (the formation of co-operatives and the role of local government, for instance) and government budgets and procedures.
Specific events, especially traumatic events that demand a political response. This includes both natural disasters and anthropogenic events (sudden changes in market conditions, wars).
- Specific events dictate response timing - based on the urgency of the situation.
Institutional influences:
- Structure and capabilities of formal institutions such as central government agencies, local government, NGOs, the private sector, political parties and organized religion.
External influences:
- Donors, international agreements and treaties, and external media and events.
