| Summary: | This study applies the Mazmanian and Sabatier model for successful policy
implementation to the application of EC environmental Directives in the United Kingdom. Using
two areas of air pollution — vehicle emissions and large combustion plant emissions — the
applicability of the Mazmanian and Sabatier framework is assessed with regard to (a) the
environmental policy arena and (b) the British policy style.
The Mazmanian and Sabatier model suggests that six conditions must be
met for successful policy implementation to occur. These conditions incorporate five variables:
legislation, science and technology, state institutions, target groups and external factors. The
implementation of EC Directives 91/441 and 92/55, regulating automobile exhaust emissions,
met all six conditions suggested by the model and was successful in achieving the stipulated
policy goals. The implementation of EC Directive 88/609, controlling SO₂ and NOx emissions
from large combustion plants, failed to meet any of the conditions. Nonetheless, the UK was
successful in attaining the Directive’s targets.
It is suggested that the Mazmanian and Sabatier model for successful policy
implementation is not useful, as a predictive tool, to the cases studied here. The framework,
derived from American practice and experience, does not appear to fit with the British policy
style and the implementation of EC environmental Directives in the UK.
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