The Multilevel Regulation of Complex Policy Problems: Uncertainty and the Swine Flu Pandemic

The main purpose of this article is to improve the wicked problem framework by incorporating the problem of political order, as it appears in the context of Brexit. The first part specifies what is meant by political order and highlights two core meanings: settled order, and orderliness as the presence or absence of rules. Thereafter, the article specifies what is meant by wicked problem and shows that this body of literature has not really engaged with the problem of political order. In the third section, the focus is on how and in what sense Brexit constitutes a wicked problem with reference to a set of criteria for delineating wicked problems. As part of that, it is made clear where and how matters of political order appear. In the conclusion, I discuss how we can improve the wicked problem framework by including questions of political order.

“… This is also well‐illustrated in the contribution to this symposium by Versluis, van Asselt and Kim (). …”

supporting

confidence: 59%

Can Brexit Improve Our Understanding of “Wicked Problems”? Reflections on Policy and Political Order

Fossum¹

2019

“…The article by Versluis, van Asselt and Kim () focuses on the swine flu pandemic as an instance of a complex problem tackled in multilevel settings. A core insight concerns the role of uncertainty in the regulation of this type of problem and how this uncertainly is managed and communicated by policy‐makers.…”

Section: The Contributions Of the Symposiummentioning

confidence: 99%

What's the Problem? Multilevel Governance and Problem‐Solving

Thomann¹,

Trein²,

Maggetti³

2019

The study of multilevel governance (MLG) is fundamentally concerned with the capacity of MLG to effectively deal with policy problems. However, the notion of problem‐solving itself remains vague. Moreover, MLG research prioritizes questions of structure and agency, while neglecting the role and nature of policy problems themselves. This symposium defines problem‐solving in both procedural and operational terms. The introduction reviews relevant attributes of policy problems and existing assumptions about their influence on problem‐solving. By adding uncertainty, tractability, and three political attributes (power, conflict, salience), we propose an extended list of attributes of policy problems that matter for problem‐solving, and link them to different notions of procedural and operational problem‐solving in MLG. The contributions address the challenges facing problem‐solving in the European Union, adopting a particular focus on the characteristics of policy problems. Empirical cases include the European Semester, Brexit, the governance of the swine flu pandemic, and climate change.

“…The phenomenon of interest of this article, problem-solving, is based on the broader framework of this mini-symposium, which considers problem-solving dynamics from different angles, in light of "wicked" or "super wicked problems" like climate change that need to be addressed urgently and that transcend borders without a clear centralized international authority to address them (Adelle & Russel, 2013;Levin, Cashore, Bernstein & Auld, 2012;Peters, 2017). As reflected in some of the contributions of this symposium, wicked and pressing policy challenges like climate change, the swine flu pandemic (Versluis, van Asselt & Kim, 2019), or Brexit (Fossum, 2019) necessitate effective policy-making and problemsolving at the regional, national, and global levels that can take place at various stages of the policy cycle including agenda setting and decision making, as well as policy implementation (Jones, 1984;Lasswell, 1956;Thomann, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Problem‐Solving Across Literatures: Comparative Federalism and Multi‐Level Governance in Climate Change Action

Carreras¹

2019

This paper aims at making a conceptual and theoretical contribution to understanding problem‐solving capacity in multi‐level contexts. To do so, I use the framework of structure, agency, process, and outcome to systematically discuss how the literatures of comparative federalism and multi‐level governance define and analyze problem‐solving. In discussing these literatures, I also examine how concepts such as integration, functional differentiation, self‐rule, and shared‐rule have important implications for problem‐solving. Policy challenges, such as climate change, require problem‐solving at various territorial levels. To demonstrate the insight from the two literatures and to offer comprehensive theoretical implications for effective problem‐solving capacity, this paper also provides illustrative examples of climate change action and environmental policy in Germany and the EU.