Unpacking Complexity in Public Policy: A Network Approach to EU Climate Policy

Abstract

As policy portfolios grow, they become increasingly complex to understand, coordinate or implement. To date, public policy research offers few ideas about how to conceptualize and analyse policy complexity empirically. If we had such approaches, this would improve our understanding of stability and change in long-term policy processes. Here is an example: While the European Union has made climate action a central policy priority and adopted more and more climate-relevant policies over time, projections from the Climate Action Tracker indicate that the EU is unlikely to reach its 2050 net-zero emissions target. This talk explores the paradox between political ambition and policy effectiveness. I argue that a key explanation lies in policy complexity and the following flawed assumption: that as climate policies accumulate, their coherence remains stable. In practice, policies often contradict each other, while their interdependencies are poorly understood. Building on the Theory of Institutional Complexity Traps, this talk shows how expanding policy portfolios can become fragmented and counterproductive when not properly coordinated. I will explain how I apply network analysis methods to identify and map the interactions among policy instruments and goals, highlighting areas of synergy and contradiction. The research is part of the ERC Starting Grant project Climplexity: CLIMate Policy Integration—a ComPLEXITY Trap? In the session, I would like to present this research project and reserve time for an interactive discussion.