Navigating Eco‐Social Policymaking: Trends, Drivers, and Barriers. Introduction to the Special Issue

ABSTRACT In recent years, research on the integration between social and ecological policies has significantly expanded, highlighting the multiple ways in which these two domains interact. Concepts such as “just transition” and “sustainable welfare” have gained prominence as normative frameworks capturing these interconnections. However, despite the increasing scholarly attention, several important theoretical, conceptual, and empirical gaps remain, particularly regarding how social and ecological spheres intersect across different political systems. This Special Issue contributes to this debate by exploring the complex policymaking dynamics underlying eco‐social policies. Before presenting the contributions, this introductory article provides a thorough review of existing studies on eco‐social policies. The review serves a dual purpose: first, it synthesizes existing knowledge, identifying key gaps; second, it allows us to develop a comprehensive framework to understand eco‐social policymaking, based on a political system or systemic approach. This framework conceptualizes eco‐social policies as the output of a process driven by escalating eco‐social risks and concerns. Citizens' attitudes and voting behavior regarding social and environmental policies serve as the initial inputs that shape policy outputs. Within this system, eco‐ and welfare regimes represent the broader institutional contexts in which political parties and organized interest groups compete to find solutions to eco‐social conflicts and eventually supply eco‐social policies.