Interplay: Exploring Institutional Interaction

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Interplay Exploring Institutional Interaction
Thomas Gehring Bamberg University Sebastian
Oberthür Vrije Universiteit Brussel
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Contents

• Studying Institutional Interaction
• Research Strategies
• Conceptual Advances From Classification to
  Causal Mechanisms
• Empirical Analyses
• Implications for Understanding Global
  Environmental Governance
• Policy Implications
• Concluding Remarks

Interplay Exploring Institutional Interaction
071206
2/15
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1. Studying Institutional Interaction

• What is institutional interaction?
• At least one institution must exert influence on
  the normative development or effectiveness of at
  least one other institution
• Not merely co-evolution of institutions!
• Why study institutional interaction?
• Ubiquitous phenomenon
• Possibly strong influence on governance
  activities
• Closely related to research on the effectiveness
  of governance institutions
• Predominant area of activity international (and
  European) environmental governance

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2. Research Strategies I

• Several strategies and no dominant paradigm yet
• Two major decisions
• Systemic vs. actor-centered approaches
• Holistic vs. analytical approaches

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2. Research Strategies II
Four Principal Research Strategies
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3. Conceptual Advances I

• Classifications
• Institutional interaction appears in many
  different forms
• Classification allows systematizing empirical
  observations
• Youngs four types of interaction(embeddedness,
  nesting, clustering, overlap)
• Rosendals synergy vs. conflict and interaction
  based upon broad norms and specific rules
• IDGEC science plan horizontal vs. vertical
• Classifications provide valuable distinctions,
  but they do not explain interaction

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3. Conceptual Advances II
Towards Exploration of the Driving Forces of
Interaction

• How, under which conditions, and with which
  effects does interaction occur?
• The IDGEC science plans distinction between
  functional and political linkage
• Functional linkages are facts of life
• Political linkages are arrangements considered to
  be parts of a larger complex
• Oberthür/Gehring (causes, consequences,
  intentionality, response action)
• Stokke Approaches from major theories
• Approaches point to factors driving or
  influencing interaction

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3. Conceptual Advances III
Causal Mechanisms

• Research question How can international
  institutions influence each others normative
  development or performance?
• Causal mechanisms and ideal types reveal
• How influence travels from the source institution
  to the target institution
• Provide a micro-foundation to institutional
  interaction
• Draw attention to the actors involved
• Point to consequences for governance
• Search for underlying rationales of institutional
  interaction and their effects for governance

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3. Conceptual Advances IV

• Interaction affecting the normative development
  of the target institution
• Cognitive Interaction
• Learning from a Policy Model
• Request for Assistance
• Interaction through Commitment
• Commitment-driven change of preferences
• Some overlap of issues-areas and memberships
• Three different types

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3. Conceptual Advances V

• Interaction affecting the performance of the
  target institution within its own issue-area
• Behavioral Interaction
• Behavioral adaptation in response to source
  institution policies
• Three different types
• Impact-level Interaction
• Functional linkages of the ultimate targets of
  governance
• Influence is transmitted without human action

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4. Empirical Analyses I

• Focus on certain hot spots WTO and
  multilateral environmental agreements -- climate
  governance
• WTO and multilateral environmental agreements
  more balanced interaction than conventional
  wisdom assumes
• Less attention paid to other areas of
  environmental governance, which are still
  awaiting more detailed interaction analysis!

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4. Empirical Analyses II

• Comparative/Large-n studies
• Synergy appears to be at least as common as
  disruption
• Disruption leads to collective policy responses
  more frequently than synergy
• Legal analyses regarding interactions of
  jurisdictions and possible solutions for
  conflicting norms in international law

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5. Implications for Understanding GEG

• To a significant extent, environmental governance
  is the result of the governance of multiple
  institutions (that largely escapes rational
  design efforts).
• The traditional focus on individual institutions
  is insufficient because institutional
  interaction
• Already significantly influences the design of
  individual institutions
• Affects the implementation of institutional rules
  and the social practices emerging as a result

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6. Policy Implications

• Provides food for thought in the current debate
  on reforming global environmental governance
• Calls into question proposal for a World
  Environment Organization
• Reveals that possibilities for enhancing
  synergies should be given more attention
• Reveals limits of the potential for rational
  design efforts
• Points to new constraints of and opportunities
  for policy-making in the current system of global
  environmental governance

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7. Concluding Remarks

• There has been remarkable progress of research on
  institutional interplay during the past 10 years.
• IDGEC has played a pivotal role in triggering and
  shaping this area of research.
• Progress so far provides a fertile ground for
  advancing further a most interesting and
  promising field of further research.