European Policy Analysis Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2016 | Page 168

European Policy Analysis - Volume 2, Number 1 - Spring 2016

Integrative Political Strategies—Conceptualizing and
Analyzing a New Type of Policy Field1
Basil BornemannA
Traditionally, policymaking has been described as taking place within the
boundaries of differentiated and institutionalized policy fields. Regarding some
newer issue areas, such as sustainability or climate change, this “sectoralized”
pattern of policy development does not seem to be an adequate description
anymore. Here, a different type of policymaking that practitioners regularly
qualify as “integrative” and “strategic” can be observed: policymaking transgresses
the boundaries of established policy fields and integrates differentiated policy
areas by means of overall political strategies. How can scholars make sense of
these supposedly new forms of policymaking in contemporary policy systems?
On what conceptual grounds and with what kinds of tools can they analyze
the respective policy practices? In this paper, I critically review the current
literature on “integrative political strategies” (IPS) and argue that existing
conceptualizations and studies of IPS are flawed since they rest on problematic
functional presumptions and do not consider the analytical implications of
“integration” and “strategy” as practical cornerstones of IPS. Aiming at more
conceptual and analytical clarity, I propose interpreting IPS in terms of a new,
“reflexive” type of policy field that emerges from countermovements to two
dominant trends that have shaped contemporary policy systems—integration
as a countermovement to the continuing differentiation of policies, on one
hand, and strategy as a flexible form of boundary work that contrasts with
the pattern of institutionalization, on the other hand. I outline an analytical
repertoire for systematically on the basis of this, taking account of policy
integration and political strategy in contemporary policymaking. I conclude
with some implications of my propositions for future policy research.
Keywords: integrative political strategies, policy field, policy integration,
political strategy

1

I am grateful to two anonymous reviewers, whose comments helped to improve the paper. I am particularly indebted to Thomas Saretzki and Ralf Tils for the discussions that led to this paper.
A
Department of Social Sciences, Sustainability Research, Bernoullistrasse 16, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland
doi: 10.18278/epa.2.1.10
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