Addressing fragmented government action: coordination, coherence, and integration

Guillermo M. Cejudo () and Cynthia L. Michel ()
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Guillermo M. Cejudo: Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE)
Cynthia L. Michel: Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE)

Policy Sciences, 2017, vol. 50, issue 4, No 15, 745-767

Abstract: Abstract Solving complex problems is a challenge faced by many governments. Academic and practical discussions on how to solve said problems look at policy integration as a solution to the negative implications that fragmented government actions have on addressing public problems or providing public services. Notwithstanding important recent contributions, we still lack a precise understanding of what policy integration is, an explanation of how it differs from other “solutions” to complex problems, such as coordination or policy coherence, and a practical operationalization. In this paper, we argue that coordination, coherence, and integration are related but substantively different concepts. We offer a new way of understanding and observing policy integration in a manner that is theoretically distinguishable from policy coordination and coherence and empirically observable. We argue that policy integration is the process of making strategic and administrative decisions aimed at solving a complex problem. Solving this complex problem is a goal that encompasses—but exceeds—the programs’ and agencies’ individual goals. In practical terms, it means that, at every moment of the policy process, there is a decision-making body making decisions based on a new logic—that of addressing a complex problem.

Keywords: Policy design; Coordination; Policy coherence; Policy integration; Complex problems; Fragmented government action (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1007/s11077-017-9281-5

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