Multilevel governance

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Multi-level governance approach ( MLG approach ) according to Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks is an analytical method of political science that mainly focuses on the descriptive description of the EU as the first international postmodern order.

features

The main characteristics of the multi-level governance approach is a multi-level interweaving of political structures through supranational but also intergovernmental decision-making levels with the involvement of a large number of supranational, intergovernmental, national and also subnational actors. A multilevel governance system is also characterized by extensive functional differentiation, i.e. different levels are structured differently depending on the functionality of the cooperation . The sovereignty of the member states in the EU is pooled centrally through supranational decision-making levels , so that competencies of the member states are permanently transferred. These decisions of a supranational nature at the superordinate level lead to a so-called zero-sum game. This means that there are always losers (−1) and winners (+1), but the decision as a whole - in order to be accepted in a majority vote - must result in at least a zero sum. Another central feature of the approach is the interdependence of levels and actors, as competencies are not clearly delimited but are distributed across different levels and actors. For the analysis, the political decision-making process is initially divided into four phases, in which the various actors at the various levels exert varying degrees of influence. Hooghe and Marks designate the four sections as policy initiation, decision-making, implementation and adjudication.

actors

The MLG approach is an actor-centered approach for which the description of the “multi-actor” approach is also applicable due to the large number of different relevant actors. The actors involved in the political decision-making process within the European Union are national actors (governments of the member states of the EU); sub-national actors (regional governments of the member states of the EU); Organs of the European Union (Commission, Council of Ministers, Parliament, ECJ); economic interest groups; social interest groups.

The different levels of the MLG approach

The levels from which the various relevant actors originate also represent the levels on which the political decision-making process within the EU takes place in the MLG approach. So there is a regional / subnational level below the national level and above it an intergovernmental and supranational, the European level.

Categorization and evaluation of the approach

Since the MLG approach is an open approach based on the development of the EU as a first precedent , no clear goal of integration is pursued or set. This leaves the researchers a lot of freedom in applying and developing other aspects of the theory. This dynamic development is reflected in the current turning to questions of input - and output - legitimacy of decision-making and normative consideration of the inclusion of non-state actors. This approach is therefore directed against the intergovernmental approach of international theory and advocates a way of thinking that says that on the one hand higher levels can make decisions out of self-interest beyond the interests of the individual states, but on the other hand a large number of actors on the decision-making process also on the EU Level can influence.

criticism

The approach currently overestimates non-state actors and their influence, because although there is a normative will to be included, in real terms the participation of these actors in the decision-making process can only take place evenly to a limited extent at all levels due to financial and structural conditions. Moreover, these are usually only of an advisory nature. It is also criticized that no causal factors support the facts described in this theory, so that no central hypothesis can be derived. External links with the international system are also largely ignored (only low politics are taken into account). A general problem is the new use of the analysis level. It is often assumed that the multi-level governance approach is just a mixture of already existing approaches such as network analysis , policy analysis and interdependence theory . It is also criticized that the MLG approach is merely a descriptive metaphor, and by no means an independent theory. Even if the approach does not provide an explanation for European integration, it does describe it very precisely.

literature

  • Arthur Benz (Ed.): Governance - Governing in Complex Control Systems. An introduction (= Governance. Volume 1). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-8100-3946-2 , pp. 125-146.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Große Hüttmann / Knodt, Michèle: The Multi-Level Governance-Approach, in: Bieling, Hans-Jürgen / Lerch, Marika (ed.): Theories of European Integration. Springer VS, Tübingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-19714-2 , p. 192.
  2. ↑ Cf. Große Hüttmann / Knodt, Michèle: The Multi-Level Governance Approach, in: Bieling, Hans-Jürgen / Lerch, Marika (ed.): Theories of European Integration. Springer VS, Tübingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-19714-2 , p. 190.
  3. ↑ a b c Cf. Große Hüttmann / Knodt, Michèle: The Multi-Level Governance-Approach, in: Bieling, Hans-Jürgen / Lerch, Marika (ed.): Theories of European Integration. Springer VS, Tübingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-19714-2 , pp. 186-194.
  4. ↑ Cf. Große Hüttmann / Knodt, Michèle: The Multi-Level Governance Approach, in: Bieling, Hans-Jürgen / Lerch, Marika (ed.): Theories of European Integration. Springer VS, Tübingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-19714-2 , pp. 196, 197.