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Joining up or Pulling Apart? The Use of Appraisal to Coordinate Policy Making for Sustainable Development

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  • Duncan Russel
  • Andrew Jordan

Abstract

Coordinated (or ‘joined-up’) approaches to policy making are said to be an immensely important ingredient in the effective governance of sustainable development. There are, however, few detailed empirical studies of how well different policy coordination instruments perform in relation to this task. This paper identifies the United Kingdom as a critical test of how to achieve better policy coordination because it has been regularly identified as an exemplar of best practice in international benchmarking exercises. Specifically, it examines the integration of the environment into mainstream policy making through the application of policy appraisal in the strategically important areas of energy, defence, and public spending. Overall, it finds that the UK's much vaunted approach to coordinating the governance of sustainable development has struggled to tame the forces of departmentalism. While deploying carefully packaged combinations of coordinating instruments may address some causes of non-joined-up behaviour, perfectly coherent policy making is always likely to remain tantalisingly out of reach.

Suggested Citation

  • Duncan Russel & Andrew Jordan, 2009. "Joining up or Pulling Apart? The Use of Appraisal to Coordinate Policy Making for Sustainable Development," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(5), pages 1201-1216, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:41:y:2009:i:5:p:1201-1216
    DOI: 10.1068/a4142
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Les Metcalfe, 2000. "Reforming the Commission: Will Organizational Efficiency Produce Effective Governance?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 817-841, December.
    2. Jordan, Grant & Halpin, Darren, 2006. "The Political Costs of Policy Coherence: Constructing a Rural Policy for Scotland," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 21-41, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrew J. Jordan & John R. Turnpenny (ed.), 2015. "The Tools of Policy Formulation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15898.
    2. Guillermo M. Cejudo & Cynthia L. Michel, 2017. "Addressing fragmented government action: coordination, coherence, and integration," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 50(4), pages 745-767, December.
    3. Borrass, Lars & Kleinschmit, Daniela & Winkel, Georg, 2017. "The “German model” of integrative multifunctional forest management—Analysing the emergence and political evolution of a forest management concept," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 16-23.

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