‘Problem-oriented micro-institutionalization’: a requisite approach to cross-national problem-solving

Abstract: In order to contribute to cross-national problem-solving, intergovernmental organizations need to perform a 'problem-oriented micro-institutionalization', which means the establishment of additional contacts and channels of communication within the original organizational structure. The study of problem-solving in cross-national multi-layered political systems has been a debate predominantly oriented on the policy process. This, however, nearly ignores the nexus between the policy process and the outcome in terms of the social reality in need of being changed. By focusing on this, it becomes apparent that the difficulties of problem-solving are often founded in problematic social situations among the problem-relevant societal actors, which makes problem-solving hard to impossible. In this article, I focus on the politics dimension of problem-solving and suggest an institutional answer to these classical difficulties.