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Vertical and Horizontal Interplay in Governance of Energy for Sustainable Development: Challenges along the Global Policy Path and the Mekong River
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Functional
Political
Horizontal Vertical
Linkages
Mekong River
Commission
Open Electricity Markets
Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) /
Kyoto Protocol
CDM Project Governance
(DNAs)
GMS Grid
Lao Hydro Power
Development Plans
Linkages
Figure 3. Schematic representation of political and functional linkages and horizontal and vertical linkages as manifesting institutional interplay with case study examples from energy issues in the Mekong region.
Challenges for integration
Integration, it has been argued, is built on a “nested hierarchy of governance institutions from the global to the local level” (Vogler, 2003:30). However, integration may involve more than that. What emerges in these cases is not a neat nested hierarchy, either ruled from top-down or bottom-up, but more of a web of interactions across levels, local directly to global and vice versa. Young (2002a) makes the observation that if functional interdependencies including in institutional terms are benign, that is mutually supportive between different sectors or levels, there is no need for further analysis of these. It is when these interdependencies are, or could become, malign that much more detailed attention is needed. The energy case clearly belongs in this category, as “[c]urrent energy systems are not consistent with the goals of sustainable development” (WEHAB Working Group, 2002:11). At the same time there seems to be a growing understanding that because of the “interdependencies and complexities” in the energy issue, “a broad range of actions are needed at the national, regional and international levels...” (United Nations Economic and Social Council, 2000). The governance discourse is actively calling for more horizontal and vertical political linkages.
The first small steps described above of global governance, consist mostly of meeting, talking and writing about energy for sustainable development whether in the WSSD, CSD, COPs (Conference of the Parties) or MOPs (Meeting of the Parties) or other arenas, should not be disregarded as they often are in the media hype of UN Summits. These small steps are important
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| | Authors: Luukkanen, Jyrki. and Karlsson, Sylvia. |
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19
Functional
Political
Horizontal Vertical
Linkages
Mekong River
Commission
Open Electricity Markets
Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) /
Kyoto Protocol
CDM Project Governance
(DNAs)
GMS Grid
Lao Hydro Power
Development Plans
Linkages
Figure 3. Schematic representation of political and functional linkages and horizontal and
vertical linkages as manifesting institutional interplay with case study examples from energy
issues in the Mekong region.
Challenges for integration
Integration, it has been argued, is built on a “nested hierarchy of governance institutions from the
global to the local level” (Vogler, 2003:30). However, integration may involve more than that.
What emerges in these cases is not a neat nested hierarchy, either ruled from top-down or bottom-
up, but more of a web of interactions across levels, local directly to global and vice versa. Young
(2002a) makes the observation that if functional interdependencies including in institutional terms
are benign, that is mutually supportive between different sectors or levels, there is no need for
further analysis of these. It is when these interdependencies are, or could become, malign that
much more detailed attention is needed. The energy case clearly belongs in this category, as
“[c]urrent energy systems are not consistent with the goals of sustainable development”
(WEHAB Working Group, 2002:11). At the same time there seems to be a growing
understanding that because of the “interdependencies and complexities” in the energy issue, “a
broad range of actions are needed at the national, regional and international levels...” (United
Nations Economic and Social Council, 2000). The governance discourse is actively calling for
more horizontal and vertical political linkages.
The first small steps described above of global governance, consist mostly of meeting, talking and
writing about energy for sustainable development whether in the WSSD, CSD, COPs
(Conference of the Parties) or MOPs (Meeting of the Parties) or other arenas, should not be
disregarded as they often are in the media hype of UN Summits. These small steps are important
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