Policy-making institutions and water policy outputs in the European Union and the United States: a comparative analysis

Abstract:

In multi-level political systems such as the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), central governing institutions balance the influence of territorially and functionally based interests in the policy-making process. This article argues that EU institutional structures provide relatively strong opportunities for policy influence by territorially based interests, while policy-making institutions in the US tend to allow for the exercise of greater levels of influence by functionally based interests. It further argues that these institutional differences have implications for water policy outputs in the two political jurisdictions. Specifically, it suggests that the EU's territorially oriented institutional structures enable a relatively high level of horizontal integration across policy sectors during the formulation stage of the policy process. In the US, by contrast, relatively high levels of institutional receptiveness to functionally oriented interests contribute to more vertically integrated structures for drinking water and surface water policy implementation.

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