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This paper examines the nomination of the Williams Avenue YWCA in Portland, Oregon, in the National Register of Historic Places as a crucial event in recognizing and preserving Black heritage within American national history. Our analytical framework combines Black geography and multilevel governance theory (MLG) to examine documents used for the nomination process. We unpack the historic significance of the Williams, illustrating its multifaceted role in Portland's African American community and emphasizing the role of various private and public actors in the nomination process. This analysis reveals that cities play a crucial role in protecting local history and highlights the importance of nurturing connections between cities and other levels of government. Moreover, it illustrates how the documents used for the nomination process are a tool for racial equity and it shows how historic preservation contributes to a more inclusive understanding of cities by celebrating their local, diverse, and pluralistic pasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agreements on Next Generation EU (NGEU) and the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021–2027 (MFF 2021–2027) are extraordinary milestones for the EU integration process. Not only do both regulations have important redistributive effects within a defined timeframe, but both regulations shape the hierarchy of objectives and instruments of EU budgetary policies. This is particularly true for cohesion policy, which has been characterised as the model of EU multilevel governance (MLG). Drawing on historical institutionalism and Peter Hall's classification of policy change, this text examines the dynamics of change in MLG. In particular, this research looks at the timing and scope of changes in EU cohesion policy since the 1980s. We ask whether or not the adoption of NGEU and the MFF 2021–2027 is likely to represent a critical juncture for the MLG and to what extent both regulations modify objectives and instruments of cohesion policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different streams of political research have pointed to two macro-phenomena that appear as opposite at first glance: On the one hand, the increasing delegation of competencies to jurisdictions beyond the central government, resulting in the denationalization of political authority. On the other, the passing of reforms that reassert the centre of the nation state through policy integration and administrative coordination. In this article, we argue that these two processes can be analysed under a unified framework in terms of multilevel dynamics, whereby delegation ultimately elicits recentring reforms at the national level. To examine this argument and break down the mechanisms at work, we develop two sets of hypotheses: first, we theorise how the delegation of competencies to international organisations, sub-national entities and independent agencies can eventually trigger recentring reforms; second, we propose that the capacity to act attributed to these actors also shapes such reforms. Our empirical analysis relies on an original dataset across four policy fields and 13 countries. By using multilevel regression models, we show that especially the delegation of competencies to agencies at the national level as well as the double delegation to European agencies increases the probability that governments pass recentring reforms. Furthermore, if these agencies have a stronger capacity to act, recentring becomes more likely. Our findings contribute to the development of multilevel governance as a dynamic theory of policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 triggered forced migration on a scale not seen in Europe since World War II. The city of Lublin (Poland), as the capital of the border region, has become both a destination and transit point for refugees, generating the need for both emergency and long-term assistance. Lublin Voivodeship is adjacent to the Volyn region with its capital in Lutsk, where the situation has also changed rapidly (an influx of internally displaced persons). The purpose of this article is to capture the overall picture of the response to war in regional urban centres with similar demographic, absorption and adaptation potential and to identify social resilience factors. We begin by describing the aid structure based on the concept of multilevel governance. We then identify three groups of social resilience factors in both cities: past experience in emergency response, the diversity of actors involved, and the way the work is managed (with professionalisation of volunteer phenomena). The article is based on data resulting from qualitative research in Lublin and Lutsk with the actors of the humanitarian aid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides and empirically tests an analytical model that considers the relationship between the discretionary power of street‐level bureaucrats (SLBs) and the institutional and organisational structures at meso and macro levels. The proposal maintains a bottom‐up perspective in the analysis of discretionary practices; at the same time, it highlights the relevance of multilevel governance systems as institutional spaces in opening and constraining the room for manoeuvre of SLBs. The analytical model is tested to comparatively analyse the implementation of the Italian guaranteed minimum income (Reddito di Cittadinanza) in two different regional welfare systems. The analysis focused on the practices and perceptions of the "navigators", a new professional group introduced to implement the same policy. The fieldwork pointed out different spaces for and forms of discretion, highlighting that different institutional arrangements affect discretion and the variability of practices; however individual and professional group factors coupled with similar external constraints nuanced this variability with the emergence of common ones. In this article, the analytical model allowed to consider in a comparative perspective how institutional factors, besides individual and professional ones, influence discretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Medical Device Regulation (MDR) entered into force in 2017 and became applicable in 2021. In the context of Europeanization and the European Union (EU) multilevel governance system, regulations are used as a means of unification. The EU has gradually increased the degree of convergence in medical devices, even though medical devices pertain to the health sector, which is within the Member States’ competence. Despite MDR being a regulation, its preamble states that its aim is to harmonize rules for the placing on the market and use of medical devices on the EU market. This article analyzes the level of convergence introduced by the MDR and its impact on regulatory complexity. Our findings demonstrate that many relevant elements, such as mandatory CE marking, reached the level of unification, whereas some that are still to become legally effective, such as the European database on medical devices (EUDAMED), went further and reached the highest level – supranational and integral joint administrative capacities. Unlike the expected inverse correlation between EU convergence and regulatory complexity, our findings revealed that due to delays in bringing into effect certain unifying elements, de facto, MDR introduced additional constraints compared to the previous Medical Device Directive (MDD) framework. This leads to the main finding of this research, which is that the MDR convergence increase has led to [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although science diplomacy has been gaining relevance in foreign policy to solve environmental challenges, critical questions concerning what different instruments mean under the term 'science diplomacy' and whether science diplomacy does contribute to the progress in solving environmental issues remain unanswered. We explore those questions by linking science diplomacy salient features through documentary analysis of international instruments addressing the plastics pollution in the ocean. We find that from a science diplomacy and multi-level governance perspective, the responsibilities and capabilities of emergent actors of cross-level governance are also important, leading to more attention being paid to changes in the role of national authorities, away from passive leadership to cross-cutting coalitions supported by the salient features of science diplomacy, and redefining dominant discursive approaches that have framed plastics waste. Points for practitioners: As a result of the cost and limitations of the current international mechanisms, there is currently no incentive for individual countries to take action against marine plastic pollution. Science diplomacy and multi-level governance can contribute to international cooperation, foreign policy and national strategies. Leading efforts to engage countries with fewer scientific and technological capabilities could benefit countries' foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops and applies an innovative methodology based on social network analysis and cluster analysis to analyze the organization of policymaking relations in multi-level political systems, focusing on the migration policy field. In doing so, it addresses four limitations of existing research on multi-layered migration policymaking, which tends to focus on policy and legal documents rather than real-world interactions, conceptualize governmental levels in morphological terms, neglect conflictual interactions, and narrowly focus on big cities. This innovative approach is applied to the heuristic case of Italian asylum policy after the 2015 "refugee crisis", which allows to derive three conceptual claims about the organizations of multi-level migration-related policymaking interactions. First, these interactions can be highly conflictual and multi-level migration policymaking should not necessarily be seen as a negotiated order among public and non-public actors. Second, existing typologies need to be complexified, accounting for the significance of intricately nested and overlapping "multi-level networks" emerging over and above multi-layered institutional structures. Third, showing that Italian asylum policy actors interact more frequently and collaboratively with "like-minded" actors regardless of official roles and governmental levels, the article identifies a new "political" or "ideological" axis along which collaborative and conflictual relations can be organized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As few studies have been conducted on the roles of governments at different levels in cross-boundary cooperation process, this paper, drawing on the multi-level governance theory, explores the roles of local governments in cross-boundary cooperation in China through in-depth interviews and document analysis in the Guangzhou-Foshan metropolitan area. The paper finds that China has seen a significant advance in crossboundary cooperation in terms of institutional building and a remarkable change in municipal and provincial government functions. The new forms of regional cooperation have enhanced horizontal ties, but political directives from the central government cannot simply be ignored as existing administrative hierarchy is still a pervasive principle. The power devolution is essentially the transfer of power from the central government to provincial- and municipal-level governments (or prefecture city governments) but overlooks the district and county governments. Furthermore, citizens and non-government institutions have no access to the decision-making process and channels for airing their appeals. In a real sense, the regional cooperation system has not yet been well established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The progress of development and tourism in East Lombok Regency results in a need for labour and demands the mindset of society to be able to keep up with changes. Institutions of local communities such as pesantren (Islamic boarding school) and non-formal educational institutions provide services to the community for increasing competence. The community encourages the society to play a role in filling job and business opportunities and maintaining local wisdom. Community activities attract other actors from various levels, both government and private, to offer collaboration as an instrument to achieve goals. The community's expectation of collaboration is synergizing, not delegating bureaucratic affairs. This approach offers an inclusive and participatory relationship within the Multilevel Governance (MLG). This study uses a qualitative approach with a constructivism paradigm. Data collections was carried by observation, interview, and documentation. The aim of the research is to see how the community's expectations of the MLG approach are in strengthening job and business opportunities and how the community's SOAR strategy analysis maintains the sustainability. The results of the study show that the awareness of the actors in carrying out their roles and authorities creates a conducive environment for the community to be independent. The strategy SOAR analysis is in the OA quadrant, advantage of opportunities to achieve expectations by developing partnerships that create participatory dialogue to strengthen accessibility and support local potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using 22 undergraduate business students' online learning experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown in Pakistan (as the pandemic was the only time these students were enrolled as online students in Pakistan), this study demonstrates that online learning is a multi-level phenomenon and a practice situated within the environment. Despite online learning being a heavily researched area, research has under-examined the interaction of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework with the context. By adopting an ecological perspective, and by examining the interaction of micro, meso, and macro levels, this qualitative research provides useful insights into the interaction of the individual (micro-level) captured through the CoI framework, with the broader environment in which learners are located (meso and macro levels). It contributes to research on online learning broadly, and the CoI framework specifically, by revealing that each element of the CoI framework (micro-level), is influenced by macro (developing country), as well as meso (institutional policies and institutional preparedness) levels. It also spotlights the negotiated relationship between the individual and the systemic forces. The findings of this study are particularly relevant given that online education has the potential to become a norm in higher education in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elections are at the heart of representative democracies. Whereas the study of national elections is a prominent field in comparative politics, we still know little about subnational political actors' behaviour. We seek to close this gap by applying a dictionary coding approach to analyse parties' issue-based content of 743 subnational manifestos in Austria and Germany. We show that subnational parties emphasize regional topics less if regional elections happen close to national elections but focus more on both regional and mixed topics if their national party organization is in government. This has important implications for electoral competition in multilevel systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While post-disaster rebuilding is an urgent task for affected areas, an approach without consideration for climate protection will probably lead to another disaster of carbon lock-in. Therefore, policymaking and implementation are critically important. This paper takes the Guangyuan prefecture as a case study, where the local government took the lead in low-carbon initiative and made a great contribution to low-carbon development. Based on long-term field investigations and semi-structured interviews, using the theory of multi-level governance, it discusses policy formation and implementation in the Guangyuan prefecture, and how the governance system promoted an environment-and-climate-friendly rebuilding. The results demonstrate the urgency of carbon decoupling in post-disaster-rebuilding and the significance of an effective governance system. This provides insight to the contemporary world that post-disaster rebuilding is not only a revitalization of the affected areas, but a comprehensive undertaking to avoid other possible disasters and ensure a sustainable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. disaster preparedness and response policy now plays an increasingly central role in the lives of many Americans. The COVID-19 pandemic and the strong uptick in extreme weather events have placed a heightened burden on our emergency management resources. In 2021, it seemed that hardly a week went by without a new emergency declaration as we battled devastating wildfires and drought in the West and catastrophic flooding and storms in the East. To further complicate matters, these unrelenting weather-related disasters played out within the context of an unprecedented and multi-year public health crisis-the COVID-19 pandemic. This Article examines the history and structure of U.S. disaster policy with a special emphasis on the oversight challenges present in its multi-tier and multi-sector governance structure. It draws on lessons from past disasters and insights from multi-level governance (MLG) theory to promote ways to ensure that U.S. disaster policy is effective, efficient, and equitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the impact governance types can have on the transfer of city-scale climate change policy. We develop a new adaptation of the policy transfer heuristic (based on the work of Dolowitz and Marsh 1996) which draws attention to different types of multilevel governance systems (Hooghe et al. 2003). This new adaption, "Policy Transfer Across Governance Systems" (PTAGS) heuristic helps to anticipate challenges and opportunities for potential transfer (Manwaring 2016). To demonstrate this, we present three hypothetical scenarios of policy transfer from the European Union Green Capital Awards (EUGCA) to Australia. Using PTAGS reveals three main complexities that policy actors' may face when developing city-scale climate change policy. These are: problem identification; the type of transfer networks used; and what aspects of policy contents and goals can be transferred. We argue that the adapted PTAGS heuristic enables a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of transfer across different governance systems. This can better equip policy actors and relevant stakeholders to develop more holistic city-scale climate change adaptation policy that draws on the strengths of governance systems rather than amplifying their weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education policies are increasingly characterized as complex and dynamic, involving a multitude of actors and policy networks. As a result, there is a growing demand in education for research approaches that can help make sense of this complexity. This paper examines the applicability of multi-level governance (MLG) framework as a tool of education research from Canada's decentralized federalist perspective. By conducting a comprehensive literature review of 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, we determine the applicability of MLG framework, the conditions necessary for its use, and its overall relevance to education policy, which is increasingly characterized by the involvement of a variety of stakeholder groups across government levels and policy sectors. The key findings are presented following Bowe et al.'s (1992) policy cycle framework. We conclude that MLG approach is a strong tool for education research to analyze policy making in federal decentralized educational systems, as it allows a more nuanced perspective for understanding the multilayered policy dynamics often unfolding in the context of federalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social Inequalities & Economic Growth / Nierownosci Spoleczne a Wzrost Gospodarczy is the property of University of Rzeszow and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Social Inequalities & Economic Growth / Nierownosci Spoleczne a Wzrost Gospodarczy is the property of University of Rzeszow and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Based on a triangulation of the specific analysis in the fields of European studies, law and sociology, the hereby paper aims at creating a comprehensive study on the impact of the restrictive measures following the Coronavirus pandemic at European level and in the member states. The analysis of the positions adopted in the European Union in matters of migration and freedom of movement, starting with February 2020, aimed at limiting the spread of the SARS-CoV2 virus, will be based on the multilevel governance theory and focused on the responses to the global challenges related to this pandemic. Thus, the study is framed on the three dimensions of this theory, namely the European institutional level, the national level and the sub-national level. Within this framework, the measures undertaken by the European Union, the member states and the local authorities in order to manage the crisis, as well as the way they were received at different levels, will be discussed. Taking into account the fact that, since the establishment of the Freedom of movement as a fundamental principle of the European Union, no such limitations have ever been introduced, the current study proposes an analysis on their impact on the circulation of people across the EU territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health care personnel attitudes toward refugee claimant entitlement to health care are influenced by multilevel factors including institutional and societal culture. Although individual attitudes may be modified through training, macro- and meso-issues require system-level interventions. This paper analyzes the role of individual-, institutional-, and city-level factors in shaping attitudes toward refugee claimants' access to health care among Canadian health care personnel. A total of 4207 health care personnel in 16 institutions located in Montreal and Toronto completed an online survey on attitudes regarding health care access for refugee claimants. We used multilevel logistic regression analysis to identify individual-, institutional-, and city-level predictors of endorsing access to care. Participants who had prior contact with refugee claimants had greater odds of endorsing access to care than those who did not (OR 1.13; 95% CI 1.05, 1.21). Attitudes varied with occupation: social workers had the highest probability of endorsing equal access to health care (.83; 95% CI.77,.89) followed by physicians (.77; 95% CI.71,.82). An estimated 7.97% of the individual variation in endorsement of equal access to health care was attributable to differences between institutions, but this association was no longer statistically significant after adjusting for city residence. Results indicate that the contexts in which health care professionals live and work are important when understanding opinions on access to health care for vulnerable populations. They suggest that institutional interventions promoting a collective mission to care for vulnerable populations may improve access to health care for precarious status migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will explore a model of best practice, the Leverkusen Model, as well as its impact on both the city and the refugees it serves by utilising key stakeholder interviews, civil servants, non-profits, and Syrian refugees living in Leverkusen. The core argument to be presented here is that the dynamic fluidity of the Leverkusen Model, where three bodies (government, Caritas, and the Refugee Council) collaborate to manage the governance responsibilities, allows for more expedited refugee integration into society. This paper utilises an analytical model of multi-level governance to demonstrate its functional processes and show why it can be considered a model of best practice. Started in 2002, the Leverkusen Model of refugee housing has not only saved the city thousands of euros per year in costs associated with refugee housing, but has aided in the cultivation of a very direct, fluid connection between government, civil society, and the refugees themselves. Leverkusen employs a different and novel governance structure of housing for refugees: with direct consultations with Caritas, the largest non-profit in Germany, as well as others, refugees who arrive in Leverkusen are allowed to search for private, decentralised housing from the moment they arrive, regardless of protection status granted by the German government. This paper fills a gap in the existing literature by addressing the adaptation of multi-level governance and collaborative governance in local refugee housing and integration management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has created long-lasting yet unprecedented challenges worldwide. In addition to scientific efforts, political efforts and public administration are also crucial to contain the disease. Therefore, understanding how multi-level governance systems respond to this public health crisis is vital to combat COVID-19. This study focuses on China and applies social network analysis to illustrate interactive governance between and within levels and functions of government, confirming and extending the existing Type I and Type II definition of multi-level governance theory. We characterize four interaction patterns—vertical, inter-functional, intra-functional, and hybrid—with the dominant pattern differing across governmental functions and evolving as the pandemic progressed. Empirical results reveal that financial departments of different levels of government interact through the vertical pattern. At the same time, intra-functional interaction also exists in provincial financial departments. The supervision departments typically adopt the inter-functional pattern at all levels. At the cross-level and cross-function aspects, the hybrid interaction pattern prevails in the medical function and plays a fair part in the security, welfare, and economic function. This study is one of the first to summarize the interaction patterns in a multi-level setting, providing practical implications for which pattern should be applied to which governmental levels/functions under what pandemic condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transnational networks of sub-national authorities are an established and growing phenomenon in Europe, where they perform a number of (soft) governance functions for their members, often in direct connection with European Union (EU) institutions. Differentiation is an inherent characteristic of sub-national authority networks, which is nonetheless still largely unexplored. Building on original empirical data, we identify three dimensions of differentiation generated by networks – 'insider-outsider', 'compound' and 'multi-level' differentiation – and discuss their implications for the efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy of these organisations. Based on our analysis, we also sketch some avenues for future research connecting the national and sub-national dimensions of differentiation in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Had any of the expectations about the CoR as a kind of upper house come to pass, this would have nudged the EU closer to a federal form of representative government, with the European Parliament representing the people, and whatever had come into existence in place of the CoR, representing territorial authorities. Where Blatter, their fellow countryman, proposes to deal with such matters by exchanging votes between territorial authorities, Frey and Eichenberger ([16]) propose keeping territorial and functional jurisdictions apart, with separate institutions for the governance of each. On this basis, Schönlau and Piattoni conclude, of the CoR's contribution to EU democracy, that it not only represents regional and local authorities, but also provides a platform in the EU for what Condorcet has been quoted as calling local assemblies. The role of the state in this is an enabling one, but, of course, other states may act as constraints. [Extracted from the article]

This research analyzes the political influence on the distribution of current transfers from the central level to municipalities during the first wave of the pandemic. From a panel data and fixed effects analysis, we are able to identify an electoral bias in the distribution of resources. Municipalities where the mayor and the president are from the same political party, received on average 61% more transfers, being higher as the margin of victory increases. The distribution of resources during the pandemic followed strategic criteria to favor the interests of the national government, which highlights the importance of strengthening the municipal financing system and, specifically, the resources that the central government can transfer discretionally, introducing transparent criteria that contribute to reduce territorial inequality gaps. In this sense, the recommendation is to use transfers based on formulas with statistical indicators related to the objectives of the transfer. The indicators should not be susceptible to manipulation and should be easily verifiable. The formulas should be maintained for several years and be subject to review and adaptation, preferably based on an analysis of their impact on the objectives of the transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that electoral systems, gender quotas and a country's socio‐economic development affect women's legislative representation (WLR). Less attention is paid to the effects of the rise of regional political arenas and multilevel politics on WLR. Due to less costly and competitive electoral campaigns, women can have easier access to regional legislatures. We argue that this relationship is mitigated by the distribution of competences between the different levels of the political system and that decentralization's effect on WLR at the regional level is dependent on the regions' political power. To test this, we use an original dataset on WLR in 383 regional parliaments in 19 European countries from 1970 to 2018. Results of the three‐level models show that more political authority vested into regions leads to a lower level of WLR in the legislatures of the more politically powerful regions in comparison with not only the regions possessing less authority but also with the national parliament. Possible explanations for this effect, such as the attractiveness of these positions to the mostly male political elite and, consequently, increased costs and competitiveness of electoral campaigns, are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the Dutch policy reaction to the financial crisis in the public transport sector caused by Covid-19. Using the multi-level governance theory complemented with the notion of informal governance, the analysis explains the decision-making that defined a State-aid scheme to public transport operators following a process of consultation and concertation between state and non-state actors across governance tiers. To agree on a financial rescue package, these actors engage in front-stage and back-stage political interactions, constrained and enabled by formal and informal governance structures and practices. By analyzing how the interplay between the political mobilization of actors, policy-making arrangements, and existing polity structures shapes political alignment around the financial support scheme, the paper concludes that the crisis did not change customary governance and policy-making practices. Stakeholders sought their usual partners and followed existing routines in path-dependent ways to address the policy challenge brought by Covid-19. Despite being triggered by a major exogenous shock, the policy response to the crisis was driven mainly by endogenous forces; the decision-making mechanism remained the same and the network of actors did not shrink or expand. • Multi-level governance decision-making establishes State-aid scheme for operators. • Informal practices of consultation and concertation drive response to crisis. • State and non-state actors cross governance levels in front and back-stage politics. • Customary governance routines remain in place despite shock with crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to our special issue discusses the challenges related to the cooperative and competitive interaction between national regulators, regulatory networks, and European agencies within increasingly complex EU regulatory regimes. In this context, a special attention is given to the dynamic nature of multilevel processes. After presenting an overview of the contributions to the special issue, we conclude by offering three insights on possible avenues for further research, referring to (a) the governance structure of regulatory networks, (b) the micro-foundations of regulatory networks, and (c) their role in implementation and enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can metropolitan regions ramp up housing production to meet the demands of a growing population, after years of inadequate construction and mounting challenges for affordability? I consider recent policy reforms in the Paris region that have successfully doubled that area's housing-unit completion rate. I show that a focus on social housing, harnessing of publicly owned land, new financial and regulatory incentives, and the enforcement of municipal policy by higher level governments have effectively encouraged development. These policies complemented one another and were implemented by multiple levels of government as part of a shared metropolitan strategy. Paris' example offers a model for other regions looking to identify appropriate policies to spur construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars mostly concentrate on those agreements that are written at the national level when analysing coalition agreements. However, there are also a considerable amount of coalition agreements that are written at sub-national levels. This paper analyses the commonalities and differences in coalition agreements in the German multi-level system at the national, regional and local level. From a legal jurisdiction perspective, one would expect that there are major differences across political levels in the topics covered in the agreements. From a multi-level governance perspective, however, one would additionally expect that government parties also devote their attention to policy domains that lie outside their realm of legislative decision-making. We take Germany as a prime example of a political system characterised by joint decision-making within cooperative federalism. Combining data from the Political Documents Archive () with newly gathered data from the Local Manifesto Project (LMP; ), we analyse nearly 200 coalition agreements at the national, regional and local level in Germany by applying quantitative text analysis techniques. The empirical results show that governing parties mostly discuss the policy areas they are legally responsible for. However, particularly local and regional governing parties also address issues that are primarily part of federal jurisdiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study adopted the multi-level governance theory for a comparative analysis of how the structure and modes of policy coordination shaped subnational policy responses to COVID-19 in Hubei Province, China, and New York State, USA. It was found that both countries showed a hybrid form of vertical and horizontal coordination in COVID-19 responses despite different political systems. Hubei depended more on vertical steering and horizontal support whereas New York took the primary coordinating role while a nationwide strategy was missing. Contingent upon each country's political legacy, effective multi-level governance in crisis responses should balance national leadership with local autonomy and societal engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern states are organized in multilevel governance structures with economic and political authorities dispersed across them. However, although there is relatively widespread consensus that this form of organization is preferable to a centralized authority, the same cannot be said about its jurisdictional design – that is, how to transfer authority from central states to both supra- and subnational levels. This lack of consensus also exists in contexts with explicit initiatives to strengthen political ties such as the European Union (EU), and even within EU member countries, a situation which is aggravated by the relative scarcity of contributions that measure the advantages and disadvantages of different territorial organizations. We explore these issues through a study of one EU country, Spain, whose provincial councils (diputaciones) are often the subject of debate and controversy due to their contribution to increasing public spending and their purported inefficiencies, corruption and lack of transparency. Specifically, we combine a variety of activity analysis techniques to evaluate how they impact on local government performance. Results suggest that, in general, the presence of a provincial council has a positive impact on local government performance, but when their activity levels are too high, the effect can become pernicious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is concerned with the spatial dimension of the coronavirus crisis and the tensions it created in multilevel governance in the Polish–German border region. Regarding the spatial dimension of the crisis, territoriality is referred to as the political competence to exert control over a national territory and over places particularly affected by the coronavirus crisis and its management – from local hubs of outbreaks to twin cities in border regions facing closed borders. Territoriality was mirrored in the unilateral decisions of the central governments to close national borders in Europe. Considering spatiality as well as the asymmetric multilevel setting of cross-border Polish–German relations, this paper investigates to what extent subnational actors were able to interact in a cross-border sense in this situation. The paper shows the relevance of subnational political authorities and highlights the significance of civil society actors in times of crisis, as they were able to lobby for a less restrictive border management response and helped to hold – merely through digital activities – the web of bilateral relations together. In this light, it may enhance the ability of further research to take a multilevel territorial perspective for a more nuanced picture of the pandemic's effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the background of the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy (2010–2018) in Germany, the article explores the question of how European youth policy can be anchored at the municipal level. The article discusses (1) federal and regional efforts to incorporate the municipal level in implementing European youth policy, (2) arising challenges and (3) the significance of European policy for national, regional and municipal youth policy. Results suggest that although the involved actors stipulate the importance of municipal level involvement in designing the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy in Germany, the Strategy is actually implemented as a top-down strategy in which the municipal level receives impulses from other levels, rather than being incorporated in policy development. The article concludes that, in order to successfully strengthening European impulses in sub-national youth welfare discourses, mutual understanding and dialogue between levels is just as necessary as a content-related rather than process-related discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines government agencies facing choice architectures that are multiple, overlapping, ambiguous, and sometimes incompatible—in short: turbulent. It makes two contributions: First, two conceptual images of agency governance are outlined that derive distinct predictions on how agencies are likely to maneuver when embedded in integrated multilevel administrative orders. Secondly, benefitting from a large‐N dataset on agency officials (N = 1,963) from 47 government agencies, the study suggests that government agencies are primarily biased towards a pragmatist compound dynamic. Additionally, the analysis probes the robustness of these conceptual images by entering moderator variables into the analysis. Multiplicative interaction model analysis suggests that the compound dynamic of agency governance is robust because no moderator variables fundamentally transform relationships from one governance type to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel governance describes the diffusion of authority away from the central state. In this contribution, we recount how an archaic term, governance, became part of the vocabulary of political science. We then outline three building blocks of a postfunctionalist theory of multilevel governance. The first is that multilevel governance is cooperation to provide collective goods at diverse scales. The second is that the form governance takes depends on the sociality of the participants. The third is that conflict over community enables or impedes multilevel governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Political Science Review / Przegląd Politologiczny is the property of Faculty of Political Science & Journalism, Adam Mickiewicz University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The multilevel governance literature has matured into a widely used analytical framework for investigating policy processes that span multiple tiers of jurisdiction. However, there are still gaps in this literature. The main objective of this article is to address some of these gaps by proposing a strategic construct of multilevel governance that focuses on informal but longer‐time horizons of interjurisdictional cooperation. This strategic approach expands the frame of analysis from prevalent emphasis in the extant literature on limited instances of interjurisdictional coordination to a greater emphasis on sustainable strategic multiscalar partnerships facilitated by municipal‐level authorities and non‐state actors. The article uses this strategic construct of multilevel governance to analyze the key institutional features of Canada's innovation policy delivery in southern Ontario. This study illustrates how a strategic construct provides a richer understanding of the highly adaptive and fluid processes of multilevel governance in federal systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadband policy has been booming with the support of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs). However, its performance and impact remain contentious, since primary evidence is lacking. The paper studies the first Italian plan for financing broadband-deprived areas through the ESIFs, characterized by multilevel governance. It is found that its overly centralized design suffered from serious policy faults, which hampered regional efforts. Funding mismatches and other institutional obstacles disadvantaged the northern and central regions; however, because the latter enjoyed higher institutional quality, they managed to leapfrog the (more supported) southern ones. The digital agendas' performance is shaped by the institutional quality–multilevel governance mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The setting of negotiated objectives by public action contracts through instruments like contratos plan, contratos paz and now the Colombian pactos territoriales may constitute a response to territorialize the regional development management. This text, as a result of a PhD research (2018), presents the contributions or innovations of this new figure of public action but also the obstacles that the experiences known today at international level reveal us. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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What shapes voters' expectations of receiving private benefits and local public goods in developing world democracies? Models of instrumental voting suggest that voters' expectations are shaped by co-partisanship; however, this work does not consider the calculations that voters make in multilevel systems where different types of goods are allocated by different tiers of government. In this article, I argue that voters condition their expectations of private benefits on co-partisan ties with the local leader, but only do so with respect to local public goods when the local leader is aligned with the state government that controls the allocation of pork barrel spending. I test my argument with a vignette experiment conducted in rural India that randomly assigns the partisan affiliation of real village politicians and find empirical support for the argument. I also find suggestive evidence of strategic voting in local elections towards leaders aligned with the ruling party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Multi-level governance theory allows us to explore tensions within the MLP regime. • Within regime tensions can create windows of opportunity (WoOs) for niche technologies. • Responsibility, coordination, capacity and incumbency affect the emergence of WoOs. • Regulatory and institutional gaps provide opportunities for emerging technologies. • Mobility services facilitated by digitalisation can in some cases utilize latent WoOs. Often described as a difficult sector to transition, mobility has been the focus of much research within sustainability transitions. In transition studies, a window of opportunity (WoO) for new technologies often results from exogenous developments. This study draws on the political science perspective of multilevel governance to conceptualise mechanisms that create WoOs. Examining the introduction of two emerging mobility technologies (e-scooters and mobility-as-a-service), we argue that within-regime tensions arising from existing multi-tiered institutions and policies may contain latent WoOs. Our findings suggest that how a new technology is positioned vis-à-vis established institutions affects its ability to reach market. Actors that position new technology against a different tier of government than those who are embedded with existing technologies face less opposition during introduction. Moreover, because digital technologies are less scale dependant, such technologies may allow actors more freedom concerning how they position their service in relation to the established institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys officials involved in public–private partnerships (PPPs) in the water sector in order to examine the differing motives of Indonesian actors in adopting PPPs. It also analyses the challenges of vertical coordination across different levels of government in PPP programs. We find that four motives for adopting PPPs are perceived differently by central government respondents and subnational government respondents. However, no significant differences are found between the two groups' perceptions of the importance of vertical coordination problems. These results highlight the need for local capacity-building programs and improved coordination mechanisms to enhance PPP adoption and implementation in the water sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]