Advancing the Governance of Cross-Sectoral Policies for Sustainable

Development: A Metagovernance Perspective

Course: International Organization

Prof. Michael Kull

Te RattanakUnggul SagenaClara Lamatsch

Authors

• Stamatios Christopoulos: Environment and Energy Practice, UNDP Europe and the CIS, Slovakia

• Balazs Horvath: Poverty Reduction Practice, UNDP Europe and the CIS, Slovakia

• Michael Kull: MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Finland

Aims of the Article

• This is the empirical article as it based on the case study of different countries.

• The study probes into three successful cases of solutions for Sustainable Development (SD)

• Illustrate Metagovernance solutions for SD and how it functions and argue that it could be a valuable component for progress.

• Review the concepts of Metagovernane and analyze its positive implications through the identification all the elements of Metagovernance in the cases of Croatia, Nepal and Mongolia.

Definitions• Metagovernance is the organization of the conditions of the

governance (Jessop,2003)• Metagovernance is the way of enhancing coordination of

governance in a fragmented political system based on high degree of autonomy for networks and institutions (Sorensen, 2005)

• Metagovernance is an approach, which aims to design and manage sets of situational preference for a mix institutions, consisting of elements, from the main modes of hierarchical, market, network governance, sometimes self-governance (Meuleman, 2008)

• The authors come to conclude that metagovernance in SD context concerns the reflexive coordination and organization of the framework conditions under which governance take place.

Metagovernance in Practice

• The following elements of different governance models are perceived as being fundamental for a functional Metagovernance framework in an SD context:- Integration of different mode of governance- Provision of and access to information, knowledge and

institutional learning- Utilization of endogenous knowledge- Empowerment of weaker players- Deliberation on appropriate choices in governance and policy

making - Interactive learning process- Enabling good local practices (scaling up) to work across borders

Metagovernance in Practice (Cont…)

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Actors in Metagovernance:

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The State/Political authority at deffferent levels

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Private actors

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Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)

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These actors have their own functions, joint functions and the role of Metagovernance in the institutions

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Within Metagovernance structures, hybrid institutional arrangements are established at many levels of government and civil society in horizontal and vertical relationships.

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The integration of different modes of governance is essential.

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Metagovernance approaches can contribute to reducing the vagueness of the SD concept and complexity of its implementation.

Why Metagovernance?

• In an international context, there was an observable lack of sensitivity for national, regional or local peculiarities and administrative culture (Anglo-Saxon)

• Traditional governance types alone can’t be efficient when it comes to the plurality of issues that run through each pillar of SD.

• Metagovernance holds the potential to address the inconsistencies in deferent ways among the actors.

Lessons from the case of Croatia

• Energy Efficiency

Lessons from the case of Nepal

• Decentralized Renewable Energy Sources

Lessons from the case of Mongolia

• Inclusive Finance for Sustainable Human Development

Conclusion

• IGOs and their agencies, such as UNDP, have the potential to become strong initiators of Metagovernance approaches for SD.

• National governments are keen to take up sustainability programs and also to develop the appropriate rules of engagement.

• Regional and local government, or even small jurisdiction, can act as pilot recipients and implementers of programs.

• CSOs and NGOs provide scale-specific and/or endogenous knowledge and render endogenous development, with a focus on sustainability, possible.

• The role of private actors is often crucial as well and not only in the form of public-private partnerships.