This paper addresses one paradox in the study of executive politics. On the one hand, the study of policy instruments has witnessed considerable interest in establishing typologies to cover the variety of observable instruments and determinants of instrument choice. On the other hand, the literature on governance and state capacity has paid limited attention to what kind of policy instruments are linked to what kind of bureaucratic capacities. This paper seeks to address this gap. It does so in three steps. First, it focuses on the way in which different different understandings of statehood are lined to distinct views about bureaucratic capacities. Second, it links this debate to different mixes of policy instruments. Third, this paper considers the implications of bringing these two perspectives together by comparing the nexus between bureaucratic capacity and instruments in a UK-German comparison of 'delivery' and 'regulatory' type policy domains. The paper argues that governance debates can advance beyond their current state by focusing on the insights to be gained from linking wider debates about state capacity to the study of the nexus between policy instruments and bureaucratic capacity.
