Managing multiple times in multi-level systems

Abstract

Multi-level systems, be they governance structures, networked hierarchies, or lead-actor networks, must deal with different actors’ uses, interpretations, and perceptions of time. Each actor develops their own preferences and understandings from existing time rules and constraints within their institutions. When designing and implementing policies, timing, speed, sequencing, frequency, and duration are all highly dependent on these conceptions of time. As such, it is not uncommon for actors in multi-level systems to develop complex rules that establish routines and determine timetables so as to align temporal preferences with those of other actors at different levels of governance. Time clashes in multi-level systems are frequent. Such clashes can often lead to gridlock, especially in those areas where cooperation requirements across levels and across administrative bodies are high. This panel seeks papers that assess how actors at different levels relate to the variable of time in policymaking. It invites papers that inquire into how the existence of multiple times fosters or impedes the development and implementation of policies in multilevel systems; how and why different actors make long-term (or shortsighted) policy plans; or how multiple times are managed, e.g., through deliberate synchronisation. If actors—be they international or domestic, majoritarian or bureaucratic, deliberative or executive—are keepers of their own clocks, what can we say about the management of multiple times in multi-level systems? The panel builds on several research project that analyze synchronization - ERC Advanced Grant SYNCPOL: Synchronized Politics: Multiple Times and Political Power, longitudinal aspects of bureaucracies - Norwegian Research Council ADM-IN-TIME: Longitudinal perspectives on local, central, and supranational public bureaucracies; and temporal characteristics of network governance - HorizonEurope "DemoTrans" project.

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Temporal justifications in crisis decision-making	View Paper Details
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Synchronisation in multi-level systems: what it is and why it matters	View Paper Details