Understanding policy coherence in relation to other relevant concepts

Policy coherence refers to the alignment of policies across various policy areas, governance levels, and geographical regions. While policy coherence or incoherence reflects the state of the policy landscape, efforts to enhance coherence are closely tied to other established concepts. The recognition that complex societal issues require holistic and integrated management approaches is not novel, and over time several conceptual frameworks and terminologies related to policy coherence have emerged. These include policy integration, whole-of or joined-up government approaches, mainstreaming, the nexus approach and multilevel governance. Research in this field provides valuable insights into the necessity of coherence, methods for analysis, and the factors that influence coherence.

Policy integration can be regarded as the umbrella concept of inter-sectoral policymaking. Policy integration has often been described as a stepwise approach for how organizations (such as sectoral authorities) move from siloed policy formulation and implementation towards increased cooperation, coordination and finally towards integrated policymaking (Meijers & Stead, 2004). The figure below shows the characteristics associated with the steps of integrated policymaking. Policy coherence can be understood to increase along the ladder of integration as priorities and objectives become increasingly aligned. Policy integration is motivated by the pursuit of greater efficiency and effectiveness. Integrated policies are more efficient because they minimize conflicts and foster synergies across different policy areas, leading to lower costs. Likewise, integrated policies are more effective as these synergies and reduced conflicts facilitate the achievement of policy objectives without being compromised by other policies. Consequently, coherence is a fundamental attribute of integrated policymaking, linking the concept to both efficiency and effectiveness.

In government-centric approaches, terms like “holistic government,” “whole-of-government,” and “joined-up government” describe efforts to reform the public sector by overcoming fragmentation across organizational boundaries. These approaches aim for more integrated, cross-sectoral strategies. This integration is primarily achieved through procedural and organizational means, such as inter-departmental and inter-administrative coordination efforts, including common plans or task forces. These efforts facilitate the exchange of information and the creation of a shared understanding of policy issues, moving along the ladder of integration (Tosun and Lang 2017). In governance-centric approaches, policy integration describes how decision-making processes move away from hierarchical structures and integrate non-governmental actors such as civil society and private sector (Meijers and Stead 2004; Tosun and Lang 2017).

Environmental policy integration refers to the incorporation of environmental considerations into other sectoral policies (Persson, 2004). The concept, which originated in the Brundtland Report of 1987, recognizes that environmental problems are cross-sectoral and that environmental authorities alone have limited capacity to address the challenges arising from externalities of various sectors' activities (Nilsson et al., 2012). Compared to policy integration in a broader sense, environmental policy integration does not seek to eliminate policy silos but aims to embed environmental concerns and objectives within different policy areas to achieve a “greening” of sectoral governance (Venghaus et al., 2019). The term “policy mainstreaming”, which has been used to describe the integration of social policy concerns across various policy areas, has increasingly been used interchangeably with the term of environmental policy integration. Environmental policy integration can therefore be regarded as a mechanism to increase coherence between environmental and other sectoral policy areas.

The nexus approach, developed in the 1980s, is a valuable tool for identifying and analyzing the complex interdependencies and feedback loops across different policy areas or resources. This method has been utilized by numerous international forums and organizations to visualize the complex challenges that arise at the intersection of these areas. The climate-biodiversity nexus and the water-energy-land nexus are prominent examples. For instance, when examining hydropower construction through the water-energy-land nexus, the impacts on water allocation management and land use are also considered (Estoque, 2023). While the nexus serves as an analytical framework, assessing policy coherence across its various components offers a useful method to understand the interconnected nature of policies within the nexus.

Multilevel governance is another related concept of high relevance for coherence. Multilevel governance has been developed to describe the transformation of the political and institutional landscape in the context of the post-Maastricht EU integration process. Multilevel governance describes non-hierarchical and mutual relationships across different levels of governance (Thomann and Sager 2017). In addition, non-state, private sector and informal actors are increasingly included into governance structures, often referred to as a decentralized form of “nested or polycentric governance”. Interactions in multilevel governance landscapes can be studied both vertically and horizontally. The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development has defined policy coherence as one of the principles for good governance in these complex landscapes (OECD 2016).