GRF · Policy Nexus
Discipline and institutional issues
Policy and institutional science studies how public decisions are made, implemented and learned from, and how institutions can be designed to govern risks that no single body owns. As a field of Policy Nexus, it focuses on consequential shared risks: those that cross sectors, levels of government and borders. This overview explains why the field matters, what experts study and how it connects to other fields.
- STEM methods
- 4
- Canonical methods this field applies
- Topics
- 9
- Subject pages in the field
- Counterparts
- 7
- Platforms in shared fields across the network
- Report series
- 2
- Reports series it contributes to
Good evidence is not enough without institutions that can use it.
Societies often know a great deal about the risks they face and still fail to act on them in time. The reasons are institutional: mandates that split a risk between agencies, budget rules that favour response over prevention, short political cycles, weak feedback from implementation and limited trust between actors who need to cooperate. Understanding these patterns is the core of the field.
The field draws on political science, public administration, economics, law and the decision sciences. Its evidence ranges from comparative studies of institutions and statistical evaluation of policy effects to the practical knowledge of public servants who have implemented reforms. Each kind of evidence has limits, and good policy analysis states which kind it rests on.
Policy also distributes risk. Decisions about where to invest, what to regulate and whom to protect shift exposure and costs between groups, regions and generations. A field that examines policy on shared risk must therefore examine fairness and legitimacy alongside effectiveness.
People and hazards in Africa.
Population density, night lights and flood water over Africa, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 3
People and hazards, for this page
Keyboard, with the map focused
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Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
People and hazards, framed on Africa.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · U.S. Geological Survey · NOAA GOES-East ABI GeoColorSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Live: U.S. Geological Survey Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Live: NOAA GOES-East ABI GeoColor (CIRA). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Optional layers (5 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
- Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
- Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
From agenda to outcome.
- 01
Problem framing and agenda
How risks become policy priorities and how they are defined. See Risk-informed policy.
- 02
Instruments and design
Regulation, spending, information, incentives and institutions, compared across settings. See Disaster risk reduction policy, Climate and adaptation policy and Technology policy.
- 03
Coordination
How agencies, levels of government and states cooperate. See Cross-border policy.
- 04
Implementation and learning
What happens between a policy and its outcome. See Policy implementation learning.
- 05
Equity and inclusion
Who gains, who bears costs and who has a voice. See Health and social policy, Development policy and Inclusive development governance.
Field overview.
The screen a team would use to follow this subject: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
How this field touches others.
Policy is where evidence from every other field meets decisions. Decision rights locates who decides what, and the counterparts below show where the same questions are studied and where their financial dimension is examined.
- Systemic risk science: Systemic Risk Management at GCRI and Systems Science and Modelling at GCRI.
- Financial regulation and stability research: Financial Regulation Nexus at GRA and Financial Stability at GRA.
Pages in Discipline and institutional issues.
Questions and answers.
Which methods does the field rely on?
Is this field only about national government?
Does the field favour particular policies?
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Legal documents.
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