The Problem-solving Capacity of the Modern State

The early 21st century has presented considerable challenges to the problem-solving capacity of the contemporary state in the industrialised world. Among the many uncertainties, anxieties and tensions, it is, however, the cumulative challenge of fiscal austerity, demographic developments, and climate change that presents the key test for contemporary states. Debates abound regarding the state's ability to address these and other problems given increasingly dispersed forms of governing and institutional vulnerabilities created by politico-administrative and economic decision-making structures. This volume advances these debates, first, by moving towards a cross-sectoral perspective that takes into account the cumulative nature of the contemporary challenge to governance focusing on the key governance areas of infrastructure, sustainability, social welfare, and social integration; second, by considering innovations that have sought to add problem-solving capacity; and third, by exploring the kind of administrative capacities (delivery, regulatory, coordination, and analytical) required to encourage and sustain innovative problem-solving. This edition introduces a framework for understanding the four administrative capacities that are central to any attempt at problem-solving and how they enable the policy instruments of the state to have their intended effect. It also features chapters that focus on the way in which these capacities have become stretched and how they have been adjusted, given the changing conditions; the way in which different states have addressed particular governance challenges, with particular attention paid to innovation at the level of policy instrument and the required administrative capacities; and, finally, types of governance capacities that lie outside the boundaries of the state.

1 Martin Lodge and Kai Wegrich: Introduction: Governance Innovation, Administrative Capacities, and Policy Instruments; Part I Administrative Capacities; 2 Peter Hupe and Michael Hill: Delivery Capacity; 3 Kai Wegrich and Vid Stimac: Coordination Capacity; 4 Martin Lodge: Regulatory Capacity; 5 Salvador Parrado: Analytical Capacity; 6 Gerhard Hammerschmid, Vid Stimac, and Kai Wegrich: Management Capacity and Performance in European Public Administrations; Part II Challenges and Capacities in Key Policy Areas; 7 Michaela Kreyenfeld and Anika Rasner: Demographic Change and Welfare State Restructuring; 8 Andrea Lenschow: Sustainability: Innovations through Sector Integration and New Instruments; 9 Jacint Jordana: Governance Dilemmas of the Contemporary State: The Politics of Infrastructure Policy; Part III Capacities and Innovations Beyond the State; 10 Marco Verweij: Wicked Problems, Clumsy Solutions and Messy Institutions in Transnational Governance; 11 Nico Krisch: Capacity and Constraint: Governance Through International and Transnational Law; 12 Eva Heidbreder: Administrative Capacities in the EU: Consequences of Multi-level Policy-Making; 13 Eva Sorensen and Jacob Torfing: Collaborative Innovation and Governance Capacity; 14 Kira Matus: Capacity, Innovation and their Interaction in Multi-stakeholder Sustainability Initiatives; 15 Martin Lodge and Kai Wegrich: Conclusion: Problem-Solving Capacity and the Modern State