Multi-stakeholder initiatives, policy learning and institutionalization: the surprising failure of open government in Norway

Global multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) promote policy to national governments according to a voluntary model that is often criticized for failing to produce formal policy outputs. This article proposes an analytical framework for policy learning to understand how MSIs can influence the informal institutionalization of policy in sub-national institutions, and formal policy outputs by extension. This framework is applied to Norwegian participation in one such MSI, the Open Government Partnership, and tests for the influence of those processes on the formal and informal institutionalization of policy related to civic participation and digital technology. Results validate a policy learning framework for assessing MSI contributions to informal policy outcomes, highlight the important role of institutional context in limiting the influence of this mechanism, and provide the foundations for developing a predictive theory of MSI policy influence through learning.