Theorizing Policy Implementation in a Multi-Level Governance System

Abstract

Abstract Previous chapters have identified the modalities of policy-making used by EU actors and institutions to configure the agri-environmental Regulation. Here, we outline a theoretical framework for analysing the Regulation’s implementation in the EU-15. This framework is founded on our belief that an understanding of the activities of EU actors and institutions during policy-shaping and policy-setting is essential if one is to grasp how EC 2078/92 has been implemented in the different member states. In particular, the contradictory viewpoints expressed in Agriculture Council discussions on EC 2078/92-and the petitioning of EU institutions by territorial and sectoral interests over the Regulation’s goals-made its content more ambiguous, and allowed conflicting interpretations of its aims to become established. Both characteristics have greatly influenced implementation patterns in the EU-15, creating a situation where deliberation among territorial constituencies and administrative elites over agri-environmental policy aims is the norm, rather than the exception. We argue that the result is a bargained, iterative form of EU agri-environmental policy-making that has determined the ‘implementation outcomes’ (Matland 1995) of EC 2078/92 across the EU.