Co-ordination in multi-level NFP-processes - Learning from problems and success stories of European policy-making

The concept of National Forest Programmes (NFP) calls for the integration of multiple levels of government as well as the integration of private actors into programming, implementation and evaluation of measures to promote sustainable forest management. But systems of multi-level policy co-ordination are threatened by overload and deadlock owing to high numbers of levels, arenas, and actors. This paper examines mechanisms which may cause these problems, and aims at suggesting potential escape routes from imminent deadlock. In order to achieve this, I discuss the problem-solving capacity and limits of different modes multi-level coordination against the background of NFPs. After problem description, the aim is to learn from real world policy processes how they handle the problem of multi-level co-ordination, and how they possibly evade dangers of overload and deadlock. The examples are taken from European social and employment policy, from regional development policy and from rural development policy. They show that specific patterns of arranging policy arenas and negotiations can provide viable solutions. The proposals range from governance by hierarchy to structures of more or less autonomous arenas which are loosely coupled by policy brokers. Beyond that I argue that two EU regulations already embody the core of our current understanding of NFPs, namely the Regulation on the Support of Rural Development in combination with the Structural Funds Regulations. Hence, their implementation provides instructive examples for comparison and reflection about the likely development of NFPs.