Managing the "hollow state": procedural policy instruments and modern governance

Modem governments face a paradox in that, theoretically, their bureaucratic capacity for action in terms of knowledge, expertise, budgets and personnel resources is high, while, at the same time, phenomena such as globalization and democratization have severely undermined their ability to directly control social outcomes. Recent works by Canadian, Dutch, American, British and French scholars have begun to describe a common set of policy instruments contemporary governments now use to indirectly steer social actors towards their preferred policy options. Unlike traditional "substantive" instruments, which directly affect the delivery of goods and services in society, these "procedural" policy instruments are intended to manage state-societal interactions in order to assure general support for government aims and initiatives. Used on an ad hoc basis in the past, these tools have become an essential feature of modern governance. This article advances the study of these procedural policy instruments by developing a taxonomy and outlining the rationale for choosing between particular instrument types.