Multi-level Governance Structures Research Articles

Urban river governance through community movement to increase the adaptive capacity to climate change of the poor: a case study of Yogyakarta

This paper explains how the community movement governed the urban rivers’ climate adaptation using the case of Yogyakarta’s three main rivers. Before, these areas were prone to floods and disease outbreak. The Sultan Ground and private owned land statuses by the riversides created difficulties since many urban poor in this city lived in these areas. The local authority supported the poor through community engagement. This scheme resulted in a breakthrough. The communities there became more aware of the misuse of rivers. They proactively participated in the discussions and initiated a movement to conserve the riverside areas. The urban river governance proceeded both bottom-up and top-down approaches. This case used the explanation with purposive sampling derived from a list of related informants. The primary data was acquired through snowballing interviews, while secondary data was obtained from related stakeholders’ archives. Both types of data were collected to understand the multilevel governance structure within the stakeholders’ collaboration context. The movement resulted in better city planning. It reduced the vulnerability of the poor, while increasing their adaptive capacity to climate change. Using Yogyakarta as a case, this paper adds to the knowledge of urban resilience strategy in developing countries.

Toward Global Paradigm Change: Beyond the Crisis of the Liberal World Order

This vision brief may be summarized by the following points. First, the crisis of the liberal world order arises from a misalignment of our social, economic and political domains of activity, along with a resulting destabilization of our physical environment. The integration of the global economy has generated problems that extend beyond our current bounds of social and political cooperation. Second, extending our social cooperation - on which basis our political cooperation can be extended as well - requires the creation of the appropriate moral narratives. These narratives must guide business strategies, public policies and civic activities. Third, these narratives must be supplemented by multilevel governance structures that address challenges at the scale - micro, meso and macro - at which these chal-lenges arise. Finally, past human experience in developing moral narratives, supported by multilevel governance structures, suggests guidelines for a future form of multilateralism that enables us to meet this challenge.

Fluid Borders of National-Cultural Autonomy: The Legal Status of National Minority Councils in Serbia

AbstractThis article gives an overview of the current position of minority self-governance within the Serbian legal order and its multilevel governance structure, with a particular focus on issues deriving from the missing legal determination of national minority councils. Although Serbia’s 2009 Law on National Minority Councils was welcomed by the international community, both national minority councils and public agencies have from the very beginning of its operation expressed serious concerns relating inter alia to the unspecified legal status of the councils. This has resulted in frequent misunderstandings in practice and, rather than being real self-governments of national minorities under public law, the councils are usually treated as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or organizations under the influence of political parties. Instead of presenting (international) political and social scientific approaches to the legal character of non-territorial autonomy in general, the article focuses on concrete legislative solutions and Constitutional Court practice regarding issues relevant to the de jure status of national minority councils in Serbia, such as election rules, competences, and funding.

Exploring the Impact of Complex Multi-Level Governance Structures on the Societal Contribution of Universities to Knowledge-Based Urban Development

The current debate aims to reconceptualize the changing role and missions of the university in today’s knowledge economy and investigate how universities’ knowledge resources can benefit urban development and inform the direction of changes in universities. However, there is a lack of empirical studies exploring how governance networks and the institutional conditions of universities in specific contexts can support, limit and/or incentivize the integration of academic activities into societal development. There is a discussion of the various and paradoxical components of university transformation (institutional and physical), affecting their societal contribution, which conceptualizes a holistic and integrated approach towards governance that previously has not been fully investigated. This paper will examine the co-location case of university campuses in Trondheim to explore the implications of a multilevel governance network for achieving the goals of sustainable and knowledge-based urban development. This paper suggests that engineering effective governance is challenging and that factors related to the culture of the institution and their connecting strategies, government priorities, and temporal factors have a great influence on universities’ contribution to their societies. While investigating governance in this topic requires political, cultural, and periodic review, focusing on the interactions of governance multi-layers, this paper concludes that governments’ control functions or some moderate hierarchical coordination is necessary to avoid the failure of university governance and unbalanced societal contributions.

Shared Tasks, but Separated Controls: Building the System of Control for Shared Administration in an EU Multi-Jurisdictional Setting

In order to address “wicked problems”, complex, multi-level governance structures must be established. These structures in turn require sophisticated systems of controls over public power to safeguard the rule of law. This seems to have been ignored in EU legislative practice and relevant research. This article argues that future research and legislative design of controls over public power in the EU need to be guided by the principle of connecting, aligning and making interplay between relevant concepts, institutions, procedures and scopes of different types of control belonging to the many jurisdictions, whose actors are involved in the executing of (shared) tasks in the EU. Connecting the disciplines that study these issues is a necessary prerequisite to this endeavour.

Breaking bad: When does polycentricity lead to maladaptation rather than adaptation?

AbstractPolycentric governance structures are often touted as part of the solution to overuse and degradation of natural resources. In theory, when multiple, overlapping decision centers work independently and in coordination, they contribute more than either monocentric or atomized governance arrangements to ensuring robust, adaptive social‐ecological systems (SESs). However, the degraded state of many municipal drinking water systems demonstrate Vincent Ostrom's observation that multilevel governance structure alone does not guarantee increased functionality. Two U.S. case studies drawn from opposite ends of the SES performance continuum provide insights into the differences between structural and functional features of polycentricity and the cross‐cutting conditions under which these features lead to adaptation or maladaptation. New York City's water system has served as an international model of sustainable, collaborative governance for several decades, whereas Flint, Michigan's water system achieved notoriety for a tragic string of errors and a pattern of neglectful governance in the mid‐2010s. Through process tracing, this article analyzes the pathways that began from a shared governance structure of polycentric federalism to starkly different decisions and outcomes in the two cities. The results highlight the dynamic and interactive nature of polycentricity, including how it can be functionally disabled when key factors converge across levels and scales: these include norms of quiescent rule enforcement, incentives that favor blame avoidance over problem solving, persistent power imbalances, large wealth inequalities, and deficits of social capital and leadership.

Project governance and portfolio management in government digitalization

PurposeThis paper aims to increase the current understanding of the connection between operational level information and communication technology (ICT) projects and national level digital transformation by researching how project governance structures and practices are applied in an e-government context.Design/methodology/approachAn elaborative qualitative study through public documentary analysis and empirical multi-case research on Finnish central government is used.FindingsThe study constructs a multi-level governance structure with three main functions and applies this in an empirical setting. The results also describe how different governance practices and processes, focusing on project portfolio management, are applied vertically across different organizational levels to connect the ICT projects with the national digitalization strategy.Originality/valueThis study integrates project governance and portfolio management knowledge into public sector digitalization, thus contributing to project management, e-government and ICT research streams by improving the current understanding on the governance of ICT projects as part of a larger-scale digitalization. This study also highlights perceived gaps between current governance practices and provides implications to managers and practitioners working in the field to address these gaps.

The Constitutional Limits of EU Competition Law—United in Diversity

The allocation of legislative and executive competences in multilevel governance structures affects who controls norms. Over the last two decades we see a general trend in EU law, towards “flexibility, mixity and differentiation.” Yet many think that EU competition policy and enforcement marches to a different tune. Competence is rarely discussed there and, when it is, most assume that uniformity is desirable. This article discusses the EU constitutional system as it relates to competition policy and enforcement. It investigates what choices the EU Treaties make about diversity. As with many constitutional arrangements, the EU Treaties sometimes leave space for others to decide. In these spaces we advocate answers, based on our understanding of the constitutional settlement between the EU and the Member States. This has major implications for, amongst others: the Commission’s power to relieve the Member States’ national competition authorities (NCAs) of their competence to apply Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU); the vires of EU merger control outside of the remit of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU; Commission efforts to make the NCAs more independent of political influence; and the resolution of conflicts between EU and national competition rules.

Corporations at a crossroads: How multilevel governance interactions shape participation and effort in private governance regimes

This article argues that the interactions between firm agency in corporate management and the multilevel governance structures in which firms operate condition firms' participation and effort in private governance regimes. Empirically, I examine the Fortune Global 500 firms' decisions about participation and the extent of participation in the Carbon Disclosure Project during 2011–2015. Given firms' strategic considerations, the efficacy of corporate management structures and practices is conditioned by domestic regulatory and global regime contexts, and this efficacy varies across developed and developing countries. In developed countries, corporate, domestic, and global governance positively reinforce each other as drivers of private regulation on climate change. These governance levels are complements not substitutes. By contrast, the main drivers of participation and effort in developing countries are corporate management structures and practices, the stringency of domestic regulatory institutions, and their interactions. This article's results are robust to alternative specifications, including an alternative modeling approach.

Toward global paradigm change: beyond the crisis of the liberal world order

Abstract This paper may be summarized by the following points. First, the crisis of the liberal world order arises from a misalignment of our social, economic and political domains of activity, along with a resulting destabilization of our physical environment. The integration of the global economy has generated problems that extend beyond our current bounds of social and political cooperation. Second, extending our social cooperation – on which basis our political cooperation can be extended as well – requires the creation of the appropriate moral narratives. These narratives must guide business strategies, public policies and civic activities. Third, these narratives must be supplemented by multilevel governance structures that address challenges at the scale – micro, meso and macro – at which these challenges arise. Finally, past human experience in developing moral narratives, supported by multilevel governance structures, suggests guidelines for a future form of multilateralism that enables us to meet this challenge.

Climate pioneership and leadership in structurally disadvantaged maritime port cities

ABSTRACTInnovative climate governance in small-to-medium-sized structurally disadvantaged cities (SDCs) are assessed. Considering their deeply ingrained severe economic and social problems it would be reasonable to assume that SDCs act primarily as climate laggards or at best as followers. However, novel empirical findings show that SDCs are capable of acting as climate pioneers. Different types and styles of climate leadership and pioneership and how they operate within multi-level and polycentric governance structures are identified and assessed. SDCs seem relatively readily willing to adopt transformational climate pioneership styles to create ‘green’ jobs, for example, in the offshore wind energy sector and with the aim of improving their poor external image. However, in order to sustain transformational climate pioneership they often have to rely on support from ‘higher’ levels of governance. For SDCs, there is a tension between learning from each other’s best practice and fierce economic competition in climate innovation.

Multilevel policy governance and territorial adaptability: evidence from Japanese SME innovation programmes

ABSTRACT Science, technology and innovation (STI) policies increasingly operate in a multilevel policy governance structure. This paper analyzes the variety of local authorities’ innovation support mechanisms for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan, drawing on a unique data set of 241 local SME research and development (R&D) subsidy programmes at the prefecture and city/municipality levels. The variation of SME R&D subsidy programmes in terms of institutional forms and coordination practices of multilevel innovation support mechanisms is analyzed as manifestations of the complex territorial adaptability. The institutional co-evolutionary processes between different levels of governments help both vertical and horizontal coordination in a highly centralized system.

Disciplining the State: The role of alliances in contesting multi-level agri-environmental governance

This study evaluates the development of a national agri-environment scheme under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on “commonage” or collectively owned land in the Republic of Ireland. In doing so, it explores the role of alliance building in reasserting marginalised narratives in multi-level agri-environmental governance processes. To this end, process tracing analysis is carried out on government policy documents and reports; interdepartmental exchanges; parliamentary testimonies; and media reports relating to the policy development process. This allows, firstly, for the tracing of the historical emergence of collectively owned land as a differentiated agricultural space. Secondly, it explores how a specific governing device – Commonage Management Plans (CMPs) – emerges in national debates as means of regulating these spaces. Finally, it provides insight on how alliances comprised of commonage farmers, farm extension professionals, and politicians at national and international levels successfully challenged aspects of the proposed CMPs. This illustrates how marginalised, but capable actors may navigate multi-level governance structures to influence state institutions and policy outcomes. We thus make two main contributions. First, we foreground the role of alliances to provide an illustration of how marginalised actors may gain influence in multi-level governance processes. We demonstrate how these alliances are built around specific shared narratives and operate with cognisance of the power dynamics in which they operate. Second, we highlight how both consultation and contestation contribute to co-producing policy design outcomes. However, the case study indicates that more extensive participative policy making could address such contestation more effectively.

Diverse stakeholders create collaborative, multilevel basin governance for groundwater sustainability

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) is introducing significant changes in the way groundwater is governed for agricultural use. It requires the formation of groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) to manage groundwater basins for sustainability with the engagement of all users. That presents opportunities for collaboration, as well as challenges, particularly in basins with large numbers of agricultural water users who have longstanding private pumping rights. The GSA formation process has resulted in the creation of multiple GSAs in many such basins, particularly in the Central Valley. In case studies of three basins, we examine agricultural stakeholders' concerns about SGMA, and how these are being addressed in collaborative approaches to groundwater basin governance. We find that many water districts and private pumpers share a strong interest in maintaining local autonomy, but they have distinct concerns and different options for forming and participating in GSAs. Multilevel collaborative governance structures may help meet SGMA's requirements for broad stakeholder engagement, our studies suggest, while also addressing concerns about autonomy and including agricultural water users in decision-making.

Ecological Fiscal Transfers in Europe – Evidence-Based Design Options for a Transnational Scheme

Ecological Fiscal Transfers (EFT) have recently gained attention as a promising instrument addressing public authorities to provide incentives for nature conservation. In parallel, both the EU and various European countries are exploring new mechanisms to mobilise funding to support biodiversity conservation. We develop a proposal for an EFT design within the supranational context of the EU and assess its potential effects with evidence-based estimates. We i) provide both a theoretical underpinning and a synthesis of the current EFT schemes and EU Nature Directives, ii) propose a model for EFT implementation within the existing EU funding mechanisms based on quantitative and qualitative conservation indicators, iii) analyse how resulting payments would be (spatially) distributed among European regions, and iv) discuss the model outcomes in terms of ecological effectiveness, distributive effects and cost-effectiveness. We thereby contribute to the debate about how to better integrate ecological public functions within multi-level and supra-national governance structures.

The Signing, Provisional Application, and Conclusion of Trade and Investment Agreements in the EU: The Case of CETA and Opinion 2/15

The ‘Wallonian Saga’ associated with the threat on behalf of the Wallonian regional government to block the signature of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in October 2016 has illustrated a number of structural weaknesses of the European Union as an external treaty-maker in the field of EU Common Commercial Policy. These weaknesses concern issues of both democratic representation and the effectiveness of EU multilevel governance. The legal question of competence that determines the Union’s power to conclude external commercial treaties by itself or, in the alternative, jointly with the Member States has now been clarified by the CJEU in Opinion 2/15. Against this backdrop, this article examines and discusses the constitutional fundamentals of EU economic treaty-making. The article provides an explanatory account of the division and nature of treaty-making competences in the EU; outlines the distinct modalities and procedures that the conclusion of international treaties as ‘EU-only’ or ‘mixed’ require respectively; discusses the law and practice of the provisional application of international economic treaties by the EU; reviews legal avenues that enable the entry into force of a mixed agreement despite its rejection by an individual Member State; and gives an overview of the relevant CJEU case law and the Court’s conclusions in Opinion 2/15. Normatively, we argue in favour of adjusting the scope of future EU trade and investment agreements to the realm of EU exclusive competences in order to remedy the functional deficiencies of EU treaty-making that were exposed in the ‘CETA-drama’. At the same time, we emphasize the need for – and outline a path towards – a qualitative change in EU and Member State institutional practice that fully employs the channels of vertical political participation in the Union’s multilevel governance structures so as to strengthen the legitimacy of EU economic treaty-making.

Regulation of Inter-Provincial Establishment in China: Learning from Europe?

AbstractWith a multilevel governance structure, China and the EU both face the task of preventing lower level political entities from impeding capital mobility. In China, licensing barriers, as the main protectionist measure, are sometimes created by local authorities, leading to restrictions on inter-provincial establishment of companies. Moreover, whether or not to create such barriers depends on various factors. In the EU, a major effort has been undertaken to facilitate cross-border establishment and any remaining barriers mainly arise from national regulatory autonomy in some areas. In terms of further facilitating company mobility, while the strong judicial mechanism in the EU has tackled some of the remaining barriers, China's weak administrative and judicial systems seem unable to prevent the creation of licensing barriers. This paper argues that precise rules defined by the legislative authority offer a better prospect of regulatory effectiveness for China whose administrative capacities are weak and courts are not independent. More specifically, legislative decision making in the setting of inter-provincial establishment should be taken at the central level. Moreover, national legislators should precisely and clearly prescribe which authorities are empowered to control inter-provincial establishment, and under what conditions.

The role of territoriality in the European Union multi-level governmental cooperation framework of Finnish–Russian cross-border cooperation

The economic sanctions in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis threatened external cross-border cooperation (CBC) funded by the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) in the summer of 2014. The European Union considered several of the ENI CBC programmes that Finland and Russia participate in for the sanctions list. These programmes are implemented by a multiplicity of actors that include supra-national, national and regional authorities and form a dense actor-network with vertical and horizontal relations. The political relations between the actors are influenced by geopolitical discourses, bordering effects and power imbalances that are conceptualised in this paper as practices of territoriality. Previous research has insufficiently addressed the territoriality of actor relations within the multi-level governance (MLG) structures of CBC. Territoriality is present in MLG in the sense that CBC actors from various political levels significantly contribute to the territorial logic of political power by promoting their own interests towards cooperation practices. The research problem in this paper stems from the alleged non-hierarchical organisation of actors in CBC and argues that MLG policy structures do not render equality among the different actors and that they fail to consider the impact of territoriality. The paper investigates how territoriality influences the actor relations in the MLG structure of ENI CBC and how the actors cope with the frictions that emerge out of territoriality. Qualitative interviews reveal a conflicting system of governance in Finnish–Russian ENI CBC that fluctuates between state centrality and region-based initiatives to address frictions of various territorialit(ies) produced by actors.

Regulation inside government: The challenges of regulating a government-owned utility

This article explores the process of independent regulation of a government-owned utility (GOU) in the water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector drawing on the theory of regulation inside government. Our fieldwork focused on recent efforts by the Rio de Janeiro state WSS utility (CEDAE) to comply with requirements imposed by an independent regulatory agency (IRA). Our findings highlight the challenges of regulating GOUs and identify key political factors that induce state governments, through state-owned companies, to shirk regulation. The multi-level governance structure of Brazilian WSS sector adds to the complexity of “regulating inside the government”.

Agenda Setting and Political Control in India’s Sanitation Policy Subsystem

India has the worst sanitation situation in the world. Over the past century, Indian political leaders have made public statements expressing the intensity of the problem, deeming sanitation more important than political freedom, independence and religion. Recently, two prominent political parties—National Congress and Bharatiya Janata—argued about who deserves credit for improving India’s cleanliness. In response, this article is guided by the question: Does it matter which political institutions are supporting sanitation improvements in India? Using two theoretical lenses, agenda setting and political control of bureaucracy, this article discusses (1) the problem, politics and policies in India’s sanitation policy subsystem, and (2) mechanisms to align policy preferences across levels of government. Utilizing an agenda setting conceptual framework, the discussion highlights the role of international organizations in problem identification; party ideology and values and capacity issues that challenge the policy arena. The discussion turns to alignment of policy preferences across India’s multi-level governance structure, pointing to monitoring to reduce principal-agent problems, drawing from political control of bureaucracy theory. Given that national political leaders observably support sanitation, this article proposes that aligning policy preferences between national political institutions and local implementation agencies is imperative for achieving sanitation policy goals in federalist India.