Multi-level Governance Framework Research Articles

Metagovernance and Control of Multi-level Governance Frameworks: The Case of the EU Structural Funds Financial Execution

Using as an empirical base the 2006–08 reform of the European Union Structural Funds financial execution, this paper explores control mechanisms of multi-level governance frameworks. The empirical evidence provides a representative case of initial metagovernance deficit and the subsequent, relatively successful, institutional response reinforcing metagovernance. The purpose is to clarify the conceptual dimensions of metagovernance, setting it in a categorical scheme that identifies forms of exercise of political power: government, governance and multi-level governance. Specifically, the paper argues for a conceptualization of metagovernance that highlights a sense of sovereignty by which governmental entities vested with legal legitimacy advance public interests.

Hunting practices of an Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tribe in Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India

AbstractHunting is a serious threat to Indian wildlife. We used semi-structured interviews to assess hunting practices, cultural contexts and village-level governance within a Buddhist Indo-Tibetan tribe in the biologically rich region of Arunachal Pradesh. A large majority (96%) of the 50 respondents preferred wild meat over domestic meat, and most hunted for recreation. Species such as the Asian elephant Elephas maximus are still considered taboo to hunters but other species that were once taboo (such as gaur Bos gaurus) are now hunted. A month-long ban was previously instituted to prohibit tribal hunting during the wildlife breeding season each year but this has now decreased to 16-days duration. A multi-level governance framework is needed to resolve a mismatch between national policy in India and grass-roots governance for managing wildlife hunting.

Private-sector participation in water service provision: revealing governance gaps

This short paper reviews trends in private-sector participation in water infrastructure in the past 20 years and identifies the key governance lessons learnt from policy dialogues in selected countries, particularly based on the OECD Checklist for Public Action (OECD, 2009a) and the OECD Multilevel Governance Framework (OECD, 2011a). It highlights the contribution of better multi-level governance to creating the conditions for success of private-sector participation. It concludes that addressing the gaps generated by the institutional fragmentation in the water sector requires putting in place coordination and capacity-building mechanisms, regardless of the ownership of water operators.

Community-Based Forestry Management: A Framework for Multi-Level Governance In Timor-Leste

Community-Based Forestry Management: A Framework for Multi-Level Governance In Timor-Leste

PS50 The Development Of Minimum Unit Pricing Of Alcohol In Scotland: A Policy Case Study

BackgroundAwareness of alcohol as a public health issue has increased in the UK and elsewhere over recent years. Evidence exists to support the use of price mechanisms to address alcohol...

On the road through the Bolivian Amazon: A multi-level land governance analysis of deforestation

Previous studies have shown that collective property rights offer higher flexibility than individual property and improve sustainable community-based forest management. Our case study, carried out in the Beni department of Bolivia, does not contradict this assertion, but shows that collective rights have been granted in areas where ecological contexts and market facilities were less favourable to intensive land use. Previous experiences suggest investigating political processes in order to understand the criteria according to which access rights were distributed. Based on remote sensing and on a multi-level land governance framework, our research confirms that land placed under collective rights, compared to individual property, is less affected by deforestation among Andean settlements. However, analysis of the historical process of land distribution in the area shows that the distribution of property rights is the result of a political process based on economic, spatial, and environmental strategies that are defined by multiple stakeholders. Collective titles were established in the more remote areas and distributed to communities with lower productive potentialities. Land rights are thus a secondary factor of forest cover change which results from diverse political compromises based on population distribution, accessibility, environmental perceptions, and expected production or extraction incomes.

A community in the Orange: the development of a multi-level water governance framework in the Orange-Senqu River basin in Southern Africa

An ensemble of normative codes of conduct in the form of global, regional and domestic norms, principles of best practice and laws have developed over time providing standards of appropriate behaviour in the governance of transboundary rivers in an attempt to eradicate or minimise real or perceived conflicts. Through a multi-levelled analysis of water governance in the Orange-Senqu River basin in Southern Africa, this paper investigates the relationships between co-operative management norms constructed at different levels of scale, and the ways in which both norm and context are transformed as a result of the other. At the basin level, legal and institutional processes symbolise a movement towards norm convergence in the basin. However, norm drivers (such as technical co-operation, personalised politics, trust and confidence building) and norm barriers (such as skills flight and the lack of trust) to the development of a ‘community of interest’ in the Orange-Senqu River basin have also been significant in shaping the legal and normative landscape. An analysis of global, regional, basin-wide and local norms is therefore useful because it illustrates the interconnectedness of their interactions as well as how their content is affected.

Multi-Level Governance of Low-Carbon Energy Systems in Thailand

Low-carbon future has in recent years recurred as a strategic element in energy and climate planning. The transition towards a low-carbon society requires fundamental changes in both the energy systems and in the ways that society adapts to large transformations. These changes cannot happen by themselves, but require purposeful mechanisms and measures steered by government and other actors in society. Actions are required at all levels of government from international to local. Thailand needs to transform its energy system to effectively address concerns about a range of environmental problems. This paper provides an analysis of Thailand’s carbon governance structure as applied to the energy systems. The study applies a multi-level governance framework to understand the policy environment. It presents the elements of existing energy and climate governance and an examination of modeling exercises of the existing literature. It is concluded that multi-level governance enables integration of divergent perspectives and helps steer the course of responsible development. The paper also provides some recommendations on issues related to the governance challenges.

Policy Innovation in a Fragmented and Complex Multilevel Governance Context: Worklessness and the City Strategy in Great Britain

Green A. E. and Orton M. Policy innovation in a fragmented and complex multilevel governance context: worklessness and the City Strategy in Great Britain, Regional Studies. This paper examines whether innovative policy development within fragmented and complex multilevel governance frameworks provides a paradox in that fragmentation and complexity justify, enable, and even require the launch of initiatives to deliver ‘joined-up thinking’, but at the same time place inherent constraints on what can be achieved. A new empirical insight is provided through research into the City Strategy initiative in Great Britain, which aims to tackle local concentrations of worklessness by promoting innovation within a framework of institutional complexity. It is argued that structural reform to provide institutional coherence may be a prerequisite of successful sub-national policy development. Green A. E. et Orton M. Apporter des innovations à la politique dans le contexte d'une gouvernance fragmentée et complexe à plusieurs niveaux: le chômage et la City Strategy en Grande-Bretagne, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à examiner si, oui ou on, apporter des innovations à la politique dans le contexte d'une gouvernance fragmentée et complexe à plusieurs niveaux fournit un paradoxe dans la mesure où la fragmentation et la complexité justifient, facilitent et même exigent la mise au point d'initiatives afin de mener à bien des ‘politiques cohérentes’, mais imposer à la fois des contraintes inhérentes à ce que l'on pourrait réaliser. A partir de la recherche sur l'initiative menée en Grande-Bretagne, à savoir la City Strategy, qui cherche à aborder le problème des bassins de chômage en encourageant l'innovation dans un contexte de complexité institutionnelle, on fournit un nouvel aperçu. On affirme que la réforme structurelle destinée à fournir une cohérence institutionnelle pourrait s'avérer une condition préalable du développement réussi de la politique sous-nationale. City Strategy Innovation Marché du travail Chômage Partenariat Gouvernance sous-nationale Green A. E. und Orton M. Politische Innovation im Kontext einer fragmentierten und komplexen mehrschichtigen Regierungsführung: Arbeitslosigkeit und die City Strategy in Großbritannien, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, ob die Entwicklung innovativer Politik im Rahmen einer fragmentierten und komplexen mehrschichtigen Regierungsführung ein Paradox darstellt, da die Fragmentierung und Komplexität die Einführung von Initiativen für ‘gemeinsame Überlegungen’ rechtfertigen, ermöglichen und sogar nötig machen, aber zugleich hinsichtlich des Machbaren inhärente Grenzen setzen. Neue empirische Einblicke liefert die Erforschung der ‘City-Strategy’-Initiative in Großbritannien, bei der in einem Rahmen der institutionellen Komplexität lokale Konzentrationen von Arbeitslosigkeit durch die Förderung von Innovation bekämpft werden sollen. Wir argumentieren, dass eine Strukturreform zur Gewährleistung institutioneller Kohärenz eine Voraussetzung für die Entwicklung einer erfolgreichen Politik auf subnationaler Ebene darstellen könnte. City Strategy Innovation Arbeitsmarkt Arbeitslosigkeit Partnerschaftliche Arbeit Regierungsführung auf subnationaler Ebene Green A. E. y Orton M. Innovación política en un contexto de gobierno fragmentado y complejo de varios niveles: desempleo y la Estrategia Metropolitana en Gran Bretaña, Regional Studies. En este artículo analizamos si el desarrollo de políticas innovadoras en estructuras de gobierno fragmentadas y complejas de varios niveles presenta una paradoja en cuanto a que la fragmentación y la complejidad justifican, permiten e incluso requieren la introducción de iniciativas para coordinar reflexión y acción pero al mismo tiempo imponen limitaciones inherentes. Ofrecemos una nueva perspectiva empírica analizando la iniciativa de la Estrategia Metropolitana en Gran Bretaña cuyo objetivo es luchar contra las concentraciones locales de desempleo fomentando la innovación en una estructura de complejidad institucional. Sostenemos que la reforma estructural para proporcionar coherencia institucional podría ser una condición previa para desarrollar con éxito una política subnacional. Estrategia metropolitana Innovación Mercado de trabajo Desempleo Trabajo de colaboración Gobernanza subnacional

The Elusive Quest for the Golden Standard: Concepts, Policies and Practices of Accountability in Development Cooperation

Promoting public accountability plays an ever increasing role in the recent discourse on development cooperation. It is said to encourage a more efficient use of public funds, to decrease corruption, add to more legitimate, responsive and democratic institutions including government and therefore to enhance aid effectiveness (OECD/DAC, 2005). To realize these ideals, a wide range of stakeholders, from international institutions, national governments to International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs), unite in their elusive quest for the golden standard to promote public accountability in their policies. More accountability seems to have become the universal cure for all democratic deficits and ineffective policies in developing countries. However, in contrast to their high expectations, accountability promotion policies have not yet delivered the expected results. This paper seeks to understand why this has been the case by analysing the current state of affairs of promoting public accountability in development cooperation with a focus on donor interventions and particularly on the interaction between donors' concepts, policies and practices. We start by exploring how accountability gained importance in development cooperation and what the underlying development paradigms, ideologies and concepts were. A multilevel governance framework is established in which four key interrelated accountability relationships are identified and examined that characterize accountability in development cooperation. The paper proceeds by exploring the main types of donor practices in accountability promotion and discusses their effects. It introduces a new perspective on assessing donor policies and practices to understand the mismatch between expectations and result from which conclusions and recommendations for future aid interventions and for further research in the area of promoting public accountability are formulated.

Cluster Policies in the US and Germany: Varieties of Capitalism Perspective on Two High-Tech States

Despite the diffusion of cluster policies across time and space, the universal applicability of the underlying concept or its otherwise necessary adaptation to national, regional, and local peculiarities are rarely questioned. Drawing on the varieties of capitalism approach, we adopt an institutional perspective to compare the cluster policies of North Carolina and Bavaria, situated in their countries' multilevel governance frameworks in which the state level interacts with federal and local policies. Contrasting North Carolina and Bavaria, we link the differences in the design and implementation of cluster policies to characteristics of the national institutional environment, as well as to regional specifics and path dependencies. Our findings highlight the importance of institutional contexts that needs to be considered when adapting cluster policies to specific circumstances.

Regenerative Medicine in Europe: Global Competition and Innovation Governance

Leading European nations with strong biotech sectors, such as the UK and Germany, are investing heavily in regenerative medicine, seeking competitive advantage in this emerging sector. However, in the broader biopharmaceutical sector, the EU is outperformed by the USA on all metrics, reflecting longstanding problems: limited venture capital finance, a fragmented patent system, and relatively weak relations between academia and industry. The current global downturn has exacerbated these difficulties. The crisis comes at a time when the EU is reframing its approach to the governance of innovation and renewing its commitment to the goal of making Europe the leading player in the global knowledge economy. If the EU is to gain a competitive advantage in the regenerative medicine sector then it must coordinate a complex multilevel governance framework that encompasses the EU, member states and regional authorities. This article takes stock of Europe's current competitive position within the global bioeconomy, drawing on a variety of metrics in the three intersecting spheres of innovation governance: science, market and society. These data then provide a platform for reviewing the problems of innovation governance faced by the EU and the strategic choices that have to be confronted in the regenerative medicine sector.

Interactions between States and Markets in a Global Context of Change: Contribution for Building a Research Agenda on Stakeholders’ Social Responsibility

textabstractThis working paper is part of ongoing research on international comparison between European and Brazilian public policies for cross-sector and multi-actor social responsibility based on a concept of stakeholders’ social responsibility as proposed by Ashley (2010). One of the propositions presented here is that the process and content of public policy-making and business strategies for CSR can be seen in a co-evolution process, which is co-shaped by social, economic, environmental, political and institutional aspects through interactions between markets, civil society and the State, either at local, regional and national level, as well as at the global level. This proposition can serve as lenses for comprehension on the variety of perspectives for public policies on CSR in an international context. The paper presents, in a first section, an analysis and discussion on a literature review concerning European public polices for corporate social responsibility. In a second section, it presents a discussion on some recent contributions for research on social responsibility at the organizational and inter-institutional levels. One contribution is the ISO 26000 revised final draft, which migrates from the concept of corporate social responsibility to organizational social responsibility. Another one is a model for an inter-institutional framework for multi-level and multi-actor governance of stakeholders’ social responsibility (Ashley, 2010), to be further developed as part of a research agenda from a perspective of critical social studies. It is here assumed that the choice of theories, methods and goals for a research agenda is also a political decision, affecting the role definition of higher education institutions as relevant contributors for policy making on development cooperation. Thus, one key aspect for future research is on the choice of scope of content – from narrow to broad concepts – and on the time-frame – short, medium or long term time-frames - adopted by researchers for the concept of social responsibility. Another key political aspect for a research agenda on social responsibility is considered on the embedded quality of political interaction between the State, markets and civil-society concerning the mutual contribution for an inter-institutional learning framework in the research agenda and design.

Multi‐level Governance and Global Climate Change in East Asia

Climate change is an issue that requires integrated action at multiple levels of government and within the spheres of politics, economics, and society. National, regional, and local governments have both distinct and complementary roles in developing climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Compared with the attention that has been given to international and national activities in East Asia, relatively limited attention has been paid to the role of urban and regional governments in combating global climate change. Cities and provinces are initiating their own climate action plans, positioning themselves as environmental model cities, and joining local, national, and international networks for climate change. This article examines urban and prefectural climate policies in China, Japan, and South Korea within a multilevel governance framework.

Overcoming Barriers to Climate Change Adaptation—A Question of Multilevel Governance?

This paper analyses the results from two surveys which were sent to all Norwegian municipalities in 2007 and gives an overview of adaptation measures undertaken by local governments. Our analyses show that municipalities have more often invested in measures related to extreme precipitation and flooding than in measures for securing buildings and infrastructure against climate change. One key factor explaining their efforts is whether they have experienced extreme events. Hence adaptation efforts are mainly reactive. With a changing climate comes a greater demand for proactive adaptation processes, as well as knowledge of how adaptation policies and measures could be implemented successfully. This paper emphasises the importance of enhancing institutional capacity in order to address the challenges of climate change adaptation at the municipal level; and asserts that a multilevel governance framework is a way of advancing proactive adaptation and overcoming the identified barriers to adaptation.

The governance of transport and climate change

Climate change is one of the key global policy issues of our time. Transport is the sector from which it has been hardest to cut emissions and, to make substantial progress in the future, action will be required at all levels of government from international to local. The governance of transport within this already challenging arena is further complicated by the existence of different structures for the management of transport modes and variations in formal governance structures across countries and regions. This paper examines the prospect for deep cuts in CO 2 emissions from transport through an examination of the key policy levers for change and considering the governance issues that surround them. The focus of the paper is the United Kingdom, and in particular England and Scotland. The UK is the first country to have a legally binding internal obligation to meet carbon dioxide reduction targets and this has prompted significant activity in both governance institutions and delivery. The research uses a multi-level governance framework to understand the policy environment in England and Scotland, capturing both the range of spatial actors and the influence of sectoral actors in what is a complex polity. It is concluded that the policy approach currently appears constrained by a desire to divide accountability by formal institutional structures, thus failing to tackle the dispersed nature of travel and the national and international nature of businesses. There is currently a lack of clarity about the tiering of responsibilities between spatial levels and there is therefore a comparative lack of commitment to the potential for demand management and travel reduction strategies to contribute to carbon reduction. Carbon reduction policies are also influenced by strong industry lobbies whose goals may not be fully aligned with carbon reduction strategies. The profusion of actors engaged in climate change policy seems to dilute rather than promote effective policy making.

Subsidiarity and Environmental Federalism: The Emergence of 'New Governance' in Finfish Aquaculture in Canada

This paper examines a dispute over the allocation of legislative competence in finfish aquaculture (Morton v. B.C.), with a view to elaborating on the application of the principle of subsidiarity to environmental federalism in Canada. The paper begins with a description of the legitimacy concerns in finfish aquaculture that have given rise to a highly polarized debate over the future of finfish aquaculture in Canada and have resulted in legal challenges, such as the Morton case, that seek to challenge the current cooperative governance structure in finfish aquaculture. The governmental response to this legitimacy crisis has been to turn away from traditional command and control forms of regulation towards more process-oriented, adaptive and collaborative forms of governance, which require less, not more centralization. It is argued that the trial court decision in Morton fails to appreciate the “New Governance” turn in finfish aquaculture. As a result, instead of viewing aquaculture regulation as a coherent, multi-level governance framework, the court treats the provincial scheme in isolation from the broader ecological, social and economic conditions that informed its creation. The position put forward in this paper is that in order for courts to make sound decisions on the allocation of legislative powers, they must incorporate a more theoretically complete understanding of the governance context of their decision. Indeed, the current principles of environmental federalism, which emphasize concurrency and subsidiarity, require courts to engage in a more searching examination of the nature of the regulatory framework subject to the constitutional challenge. Subsidiarity, while accepted as a relevant constitutional consideration, has not been elaborated upon by Canadian courts, but if we are to take subsidiarity seriously then it requires judicial engagement with the democratic and legitimacy-enhancing aspirations that inhere in that principle. In the context of environmental federalism, subsidiarity favours concurrent jurisdiction over exclusivity and counsels judicial deference towards inter-governmental cooperation.

Whatever became of social objectives in fisheries policy?

Throughout most of the developed world, social objectives play a very subdued role in shaping fisheries policy. Despite the persistence of social issues, including access to fishing rights, renewal of the industry’s social capital and the sustainability of fishing communities, the attitude of policy makers is equivocal. Though prepared to acknowledge the relevance of such concerns, they are strangely unwilling to incorporate explicit social objectives into the design of fisheries policy. The paper explores the changing nature of social issues, involving a shift in political attention from the needs of the individual to broader community and societal concerns. And, in the context of the complex multi-level governance frameworks for European and UK fisheries management, it seeks explanations for the reluctance to commit to social objectives.

The Challenges of Pursuing Cluster Policy in the Congested State

AbstractIn recent years cluster policy has become a central component of regional economic development strategy across many European economies. However, concerns are now emerging over the content and quality of some of these initiatives. Given the prevalence of the approach, these apprehensions are non‐trivial and have significant implications with regard to the value and contribution of regional economic development. Here we examine the extent to which weaknesses in the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the cluster approach may have acted in combination with pressures generated by the ‘congested state’ to produce a number of difficulties. The essay explores the nature, challenges and weaknesses of cluster policy in the context of the demands created by multi‐level and multi‐actor governance frameworks. We conclude that, irrespective of whether cluster policy is the appropriate choice as an economic development tool in any particular regional or economic circumstance, its selection always necessitates prior consideration of the institutional capacity needed to meet the governance challenges that it creates.Resumé La ‘politique des clusters’ est récemment devenue une composante essentielle de la stratégie de développement économique régional dans de nombreux pays d’Europe. Toutefois, des questions se posent actuellement quant à la teneur et à la qualité de certaines de ces initiatives. L’approche étant souvent adoptée, ces appréhensions, dignes d’intérêt, ont d’importantes répercussions sur la valeur et la contribution du développement économique régional. Cette étude examine dans quelle mesure les faiblesses des bases théoriques et méthodologiques de l’approche des ‘clusters’, combinées aux pressions imposées par un « Etat congestionné », peuvent avoir généré plusieurs difficultés. Sont explorés la nature, les défis et les faiblesses de la politique des clusters dans le cadre des exigences suscitées par un environnement de gouvernance à plusieurs niveaux impliquant plusieurs acteurs. En conclusion, que la politique des clusters soit ou non l’option à choisir en tant qu’outil d’expansion économique dans une situation régionale ou économique donnée, son choix exige toujours une étude préalable de la capacité institutionnelle nécessaire pour résoudre les problèmes de gouvernance qu’il crée.

From Local Experiments to National Policy: The Origins of China's Distinctive Policy Process

China's national policy formulation undergone economic transformation and shaped the making of policies in promotion of private business and stock market regulation. China's distinctive process of central-local interaction in policy generation is one of its core strengths in reforming its economy.