Multilevel governance dimensions of tool choice and programme
creation
Related to these capacity issues, policymaking has very often a
multi-level governance arrangement (MLG); MLG implies that different
levels of government are likely to have some common but also different
goals and instrument preferences and that reconciling them involves the
use of the overt political calculus of intra- or intergovernmental
bargaining and decision-making (Bolleyer and Borzel 2010; Kaiser et al.
2012).
We know, for example, the MLG arrangements can have different formats
through which goals and instruments are related. For example, in the EU
MLG, there are some policy fields in which higher levels cannot
establish the instruments to be used but can propose policy guidelines
and goals. In other cases, MLG can be highly vertical wherein higher
levels can impose the instruments to be adopted, however, this depends
on the implementation styles of the lower levels with respect their
effective functioning. We know that the design of MLG arrangements is
crucial but how the arrangement of MLG impacts tool choice and selection
remains to be understood.