Integration and Governance

In addition to the roles of each party, integration or cooperation between the different actors is important too – sometimes this is referred to as ‘multi-level governance’. Multi-level governance is a way to look at the interactions between local, national and supranational organisations. This is useful because the actions and choices available to governments are different than if they were not a part of bigger government bodies. For example, local governments are part of the national government system, and national governments are part of the European Union.

Governance looks at the way things work as entities (governments, businesses, NGOs, and the wider public) work together. Good governance with successful policies is most likely with an integrated approach, where the different entities work together to achieve goals and make things happen. Integration includes both horizontal and vertical integration.

The concepts of horizontal and vertical integration are outlined on this website.