LIST OF PANELS

Scholars of public policy and political science have pointed out that policy integration is increasingly used as a response to complex problems. From initial discussions about integrating climate and environmental protection policies, the academic literature on policy integration has evolved into new policy fields, such as health policy, social policy, as well as digitalization. Recent contributions to the literature have analyzed policy integration in relation to other concepts, such as policy coordination and coherence (Cejudo and Michel 2017). Empirical accounts have pointed out that there are differences between policy fields regarding the scope of policy integration reform use (Trein and Maggetti 2020; Trein, Maggetti, and Meyer 2020). Others have worked on causal mechanisms regarding policy integration, or pointed to the differences between horizontal and vertical policy integration (Biesbroek and Candel 2020).

This panel contributes to the literature by analyzing how the process of policymaking and the politics of policy integration differ among policy fields. We are interested in exploring how do the attributes of a policy field, for example its technical complexity, salience, or distributive conflicts are linked to dynamics of policymaking as well as the political conflicts related to policy change and to the capacity to integrate policies (Hoppe 2011). We are open to a variety of research questions related to these themes. Papers can either be case studies or take a comparative approach or pursue different theoretical approaches. Nevertheless, contributions must clarify their contribution to our understanding of the ways in which the characteristics of a policy problem shape policy integration.

Biesbroek, Robbert, and Jeroen J. L. Candel. 2020. “Mechanisms for Policy (Dis)Integration: Explaining Food Policy and Climate Change Adaptation Policy in the Netherlands.” Policy Sciences 53(1): 61–84.

Cejudo, Guillermo M., and Cynthia L. Michel. 2017. “Addressing Fragmented Government Action: Coordination, Coherence, and Integration.” Policy Sciences 50(4): 745–67.

Hoppe, Robert. 2011. The Governance of Problems: Puzzling, Powering, Participation. Bristol: Policy Press.

Trein, Philipp, and Martino Maggetti. 2020. “Patterns of Policy Integration and Administrative Coordination Reforms: A Comparative Empirical Analysis.” Public Administration Review 80(2): 198–208.

Trein, Philipp, Martino Maggetti, and Iris Meyer. 2020. “Necessary Conditions for Policy Integration and Administrative Coordination Reforms: An Exploratory Analysis.” Journal of European Public Policy forthcoming.

In order to provide better insights for practice and theory of policy making, the literature in policy integration needs to advance in several directions, including a “more systematic analysis of the causal mechanisms in policy coordination and integration” (Trein et al. 2020). We know that policy integration is a process, that policy integration reforms differ across countries and policy fields, and that there are even different types of policy integration and disintegration. Nevertheless, there is a need for more research to better understand how and why policy integration differs between policy problems and sectors. Therefore, we invite papers that foster our understanding of differences of policy integration between policy sectors.

The panel will address questions such as:

- How and why is the policy integration process shaped by different aspects of a policy sector, such as the complexity of the policy problem or its political economy?
- How are the policy instruments integrated into a policy mix considering the attributes of the problems being addressed, the characteristics of the target population, or the administrative capacities of the organizations that try to solve those problems?
- How do the goals of policy integration differ across policy sectors?
- Are some policy sectors more resistant to policy integration than others?

We welcome papers that have a comparative approach, case studies and large-N analyses. We are particularly interested in papers that look at policy integration in sectors or regions that remain understudied. 

Trein, Philipp et al. 2020. “Policy Coordination and Integration: A Research Agenda.” Public Administration Review forthcoming.