Developments in intergovernmental relations: towards multi-level governance

Abstract

This issue of Policy & Politics features a series of articles addressing recent developments in intergovernmental relationships in the advanced Western democracies. There is today, we believe, sufficient uniformity in these developments across different jurisidictions to allow a discussion on the causes, mechanisms and consequences of a new or emerging type of relationship between institutions at different levels. While it is also true that intergovernmental relationships in each individual country are developing to some extent according to the trajectory of institutional relationships which is typical of that national context, we suggest that the triggering mechanisms have been, on the whole, fairly similar across the western world. What we are thus witnessing is a gradual institutional – and inter-institutional – change reflecting both similar problems facing countries in different parts of the world and, at the same time, the trajectory of institutional change in each national context. The emergence of multi-level governance challenges much of our traditional understanding of how the state operates, what determines its capacities, what its contingencies are, and ultimately of the organisation of democratic and accountable government. Acknowledging the risk of idealising times past in order to exaggerate changes over time, we could say that we are moving from a model of the state in a liberal– democratic perspective towards a state model characterised by complex patterns of contingencies and dependencies on external actors (Pierre, 2000). Political power and institutional capability is less and less derived from formal constitutional powers accorded the state but more from a capacity to wield and coordinate resources from public and private actors and interests. Put slightly differently, we have been witnessing a development from a ‘command and control’ type of state towards an ‘enabling’ state, a model in which the state is not proactively governing society but is more concerned with defining objectives and mustering resources from a wide variety of sources to pursue those goals (Pierre and Peters, 2000). These are obviously changes and developments which are of considerable magnitude and significance. The gradual shift from a government towards a governance perspective reflects the new role of the state which has become typical of western politics in the past decade or so. Multi-level governance is to some extent merely a logical extension of these developments. However, it also signals a growing awareness among elected officials of the decreasing meaningfulness of speaking about sovereignty and autonomy in a political and economic order increasingly characterised by international political, economic and administrative coordination, economic global isation and growing subnational assertiveness vis-a-vis the state in many countries. Multi-level governance is also manifested in a growing number of exchanges between subnational and transnational institutions, seemingly bypassing the state (see, for example, Beauregard and Pierre, 2000). The remainder of this introduction is organised as follows. First, we will discuss in closer detail the definition and meaning of the concept of multi-level governance and what might explain the emergence of such governance. Following that we will assess the impact of multilevel governance on traditional models of institut ional relationships and highligh t the strengths and weaknesses of such governance as compared to more traditional, hierarchical models of government. In the closing section of the introduction we briefly present the other articles in this issue.