1
Vertical and Horizontal Interplay in Governance of Energy for
Sustainable Development
— Challenges along the global policy path and the Mekong river
Presented at the 46
th
ISA Convention, 1-5 March 2005, Honolulu, Hawaii
Sylvia Karlsson and Jyrki Luukkanen
Sylvia Karlsson
Turku School of Economics and Business Administration
Finland Futures Research Centre
Hämeenkatu 7 D, FIN-33100 Tampere, Finland
tel: +358-3-2238361
fax: +358-3-2238363
e-mail:
sylvia.## email not listed ##
Jyrki Luukkanen
Turku School of Economics and Business Administration
Finland Futures Research Centre
Hämeenkatu 7 D, FIN-33100 Tampere, Finland
tel. +358-3-2238364
fax: +358-3-2238363
e-mail:
jyrki.## email not listed ##
Introduction
The importance of governance at all levels – global, regional, national and local — but also the
need for a governance framework for sustainable development that is integrated across this
vertical scale, is increasingly stressed.
1
What could constitute such a framework of multilevel or
multilayered governance and how to design the institutions to build it is more difficult to
establish.
2
The importance of integrating the three pillars — economic, social and environmental
— of sustainable development is underscored in every possible global policy process. Whether
such horizontal integration in governance is possible and what it then would require is even more
elusive.
3
Yet, it is the combination of both vertical and horizontal integration in governance
1
It is stressed in global policy (United Nations, 2002b); research on sustainable development (Folke et al., 2002);
management of common property resources (Keohane and Ostrom, 1995; Karlsson, 1997; Ostrom et al., 1999); global
environmental regimes (McGinnis and Ostrom, 1996:476); global public policy networks (Benner, Reinicke, and
Witte); (global) public goods (Héritier, 2002a; Kaul and Le Goulven, 2003); and economic aspects of globalization
(Hirst and Thompson, 1996).
2
See Hooghe and Marks (Hooghe and Marks, 2003). Karlsson (2000) defined the concept of ‘multilayered
governance’ as a system of co-ordinated, collective governance across governance levels that would involve a nested
hierarchy of mutually supportive policies and institutions
.
3
The integration of the three pillars in implementation has been plagued by challenges, whether of attracting more than
environmental ministers to meetings of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) or developing
indicators that reflect the degree of such horizontal integration.
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