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

Abstract

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

“…Policy problems are analyzed by a wide variety of scholars, ranging from public policy scholars, to political scientists and to science and technology scholars. The introduction to this symposium (Thomann et al., ) already touched upon complex problems as “wicked problems.” We argue that in order to get a better understanding of the challenges of problem‐solving in multilevel governance, we can also learn from the conceptualization of complex problems as “uncertain risks” and “crises.” In this section we aim to briefly sketch these perspectives chronologically, arguing that they all point to uncertainty and scientific expertise as key issues in the multilevel regulation of uncertain risks.…”

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

“…In another piece, Scharpf () explains that there is variation in terms of the effectiveness of problem‐solving at the national, European, and international levels based on the policy area by looking at the impact of economic integration on problem‐solving capacity, yet the concept of problem‐solving itself is not clearly defined (Maggetti & Trein, ). As Thomann, Trein and Maggetti () state in their contributions to this symposium, problem‐solving remains as a fuzzy concept in the literature; however, the understanding of problem‐solving capacity is especially crucial for sustaining multilevel structures such as the European Union (EU). A comparative analysis of the concept of problem‐solving in literatures dealing with multi‐level contexts is illuminating to grasp their varying or overlapping implications for effective problem‐solving capacity.…”

Learning from the Commission case: The comparative study of management change in international public administrations

“…Despite being related to more traditional concepts of performance, administrative problem‐solving goes beyond effectiveness and efficiency (Trein et al ). It has a distinct focus on policy outputs and refers to an IPA's capacity to engage in cooperative efforts with policy‐makers to generate solutions that are expected to be collectively beneficial in making a contribution to solve the policy problem at hand (see also Heidbreder et al ; Maggetti and Trein ; Thomann et al ). This capacity has long been found to be key to the work of the ‘international civil service’ (Biermann and Siebenhüner ; Langrod ) and makes questions of management change particularly relevant for the study of IPAs.…”