The quiet revolution: policy integration in national implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

The bureaucrats in the sustainability institution have been plotting a quiet revolution, weaving a 'new pattern of strategy formation'. To break ministerial silos and facilitate policy integration, the sustainability agenda has activated a series of reforms such as inter-ministerial structure and sustainability appraisal. These reforms have a long history but short performances. However, the new momentum from the Sustainable Development Goals has created a surge in publishing reviews that have identified a long list of facilitators for policy integration, which are problematically generic. Facilitators, like political will and resourced capability, are as relevant to policy integration challenges as any other institutional problems.

This thesis pursues the quest of identifying unique, nuanced and measurable facilitators of policy integration. It does not draw heavily on the generic descriptions in glossy policy documents and polished public speeches. Instead, I interviewed 65 sustainability actors in four European countries to investigate the engaged and avoided conflicts that may not be apparent in the publicly available information. The interviews focused on the attempts to facilitate inter-ministerial integration in the process of developing the National Strategy on Sustainable Development. Four major themes arose: conflict avoidance, political commitment, responsive coordination, and networked hierarchy.

The disappointing result of the quiet revolution can be partially explained by bureaucrats not confronting the necessary conflicts. They could not place on the inter-ministerial negotiation table issues that were too political, uncertain and consequential. Much of their effort has been to secure political commitment for keeping their institutions afloat, especially when threatened by the possibility of a change of government. To keep the inter-ministerial machinery together, the coordinating agency of the sustainability agenda - however powerful - has to maintain their neutrality and feel their way based on the ministries' feedback. The sustainability institution needs a good balance of order in hierarchy, deliberation within network, and competition at marketplace. These four facilitators of policy integration can be further developed into an analytical framework for large-scale comparative research program by following the footsteps of Elinor Ostrom. Show more