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.