Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice

Comparative Policy Responses in Hot and Arid Climates: Resilience and Adaptation

Hot and arid environments (HAE) are home to over two billion people and represent some of the most climate-stressed regions in the world. Governments operating in these contexts face persistent and interconnected challenges, including water scarcity, food insecurity, extreme heat, and growing social vulnerabilities. These pressures are further intensified by rapid urbanization, demographic change, and economic transformation.

While a growing body of research examines specific policy challenges or individual country cases, there remains a need for systematic comparative analysis across diverse HAE settings. Such analysis is essential to better understand how different institutional, political, and socio-economic contexts shape policy responses, and how resilience and adaptability can be fostered under conditions of environmental constraint.

In this context, comparative public policy offers a valuable lens for examining how governments design, implement, and adapt policies in response to shared climatic pressures. Through cross-regional and cross-sectoral comparisons, this workshop and the planned special issue seeks to identify patterns of policy innovation, institutional coordination, and governance strategies that can inform both HAE and non-HAE contexts.

A two-day workshop will be organized in October 2026 for an intensive exchange of authors on first drafts, after which a selection of 8-10 papers will be further developed for submission to the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis in Spring 2027. The JCPA has been a leading journal in the field since 1998, supporting a growing international scholarly community through the Society for International Comparative Policy Analysis (ICPA Society). As a highly ranked Q1 journal, JCPA provides an important platform for advancing innovative comparative policy research and for fostering scholarly dialogue across regions, policy sectors, and methodological approaches.

Call for Papers

We invite both theoretical and empirical comparative contributions that employ diverse methodologies, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Submissions may focus on any geographical region or policy domain within hot and arid environments, and should engage with comparative policy analysis.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

Comparative Policy Design and Agenda Setting in HAE: Examining how policy priorities are framed and how agendas are set in response to climate pressures across different political and institutional contexts.

Institutional Arrangements and Governance in HAE: Analyzing how governance structures, coordination mechanisms, and state capacity shape policy formulation and implementation.

Policy Implementation, Effectiveness, and Durability: Comparative analyses of how policies are implemented in practice, including questions of policy sustainability, adaptation over time, and resilience under stress.

Stakeholder Engagement and Policy Ownership: Exploring variations in community-based, participatory, and state-driven approaches to policy-making and their implications for legitimacy and effectiveness.

Cross-Sectoral Policy Responses in HAE: Comparing policy approaches across sectors such as water, food, health, energy, and urban development to understand trade-offs, synergies, and integrated governance.

Policy Learning, Transfer, and Diffusion: Investigating how policies and practices are shared, adapted, or transferred across regions facing similar environmental constraints.

Inequality, Vulnerability, and Social Dimensions of Resilience: Examining how policies address (or fail to address) social vulnerabilities, equity concerns, and differential impacts across populations.

Methodologies in Comparative Policy Analysis in HAE: Advancing methodological approaches for comparing policies across diverse and unequal contexts, including cross-regional, within-country, and cross-sector comparisons.