Multi-level Governance: a Historical and Conceptual Analysis

Abstract: This paper offers a historical and conceptual analysis of multi-level governance (MLG) in order to tease out its characterizing traits and allow for its utilization for both empirical and normative purposes. MLG is a dynamic three-dimensional concept that blurs and problematizes three analytical distinctions that have been central to the conventional reflection on the European modern state: (1) that between centre and periphery, (2) that between state and society and (3) that between the domestic and the international. Each dimension or axis involves, in its turn, changes that occur at three analytical levels: political mobilization, policy-making and polity restructuring. The combination of these dimensions generates a three-dimensional conceptual space within which the empirical scope and reach of MLG can be gauged and its desirability in normative terms assessed.