Designing Multilevel Policies and Institutions?

Abstract

Taking up the guiding questions of the section, the panel focuses on multilevel administrations in federal systems and regional/international organisations. Whether policies can be rationally designed (Koremenos/Lipson/Snidal), whether the very intention to design is an act of “driving in the rear mirror” (Wendt), or if design is in the end best explained by a theory of “muddling through” (Lindblom) is subject to continued theoretical dispute. For multileveled systems that consist of horizontally and vertically coordinated distinct jurisdictions, questions about design and leading actors has an additional twist to it. Short of a single centre of authority and often lacking a clear-cut allocation of responsibilities, designing takes part in varying actor networks rather than hierarchically organised top-down processes. At the same time, certain multilevel systems seem to be constantly involved in more or less far-reaching re-designing processes. Looking for example at the EU, designing Treaty revisions has been preeminent on the agenda since 1993 but it remains underexplored if the constant institutional and policy change. The panel invites in particular comparative papers (comparing different multilevel systems/institutions/policies) that aim to capture the nature of designing processes in multilevel settings, or ask inversely whether multilevel systems may further inform existing theories on policy and institutional design.

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