Focal theme

           The annual theme of the PSG is Closing the Policy Cycle – The Implementation and Evaluation of Multilevel Policies. Along this theme, we invite in particular papers dealing with the management and administration of multilevel policy-making in the later stages of the policy cycle. Closing policy cycles is generally considered one of the most defiant, if not impossible stages in public policy. Multilevel policy-making raises specific additional challenges to implementation and evaluation. These include questions such as how to control effective implementation, how to conduct policy evaluation at all in a multilevel setting, and eventually how to close policies given that decision-making and executing authority and competences are split across levels of the system.
           Besides papers on the special theme of this Annual Conference, papers of high quality that fall into the general research focus of the Permanent Study Group are welcomed. The core theme of the PSG is multilevel administration and public management in a broader public policy framework. In this context, special attention is given to the European Union, which represents a particularly advanced, constantly evolving system of multilevel administration. More in particular, we seek to understand the evolving structures, actors and processes of EU multilevel administration. In doing so, we invite both empirical approaches that document and explain the dynamics of the EU multilevel administrative system, but also approaches that focus on their (normative) implications. Whilst the focus of the study group is on the multilevel administration of the EU, it does, however, for comparative purposes invite innovative research on other types of multilevel systems, including federal polities or regional and global organisations.

The PSG is committed to advance both theoretical conceptualisations of multilevel administrations and thorough empirical analyses in order to advance the area of research and the understanding about complex administrative processes and organisation. Comparative perspectives on change over time or between different systems and/or approaches are particularly welcomed.




Practicalities




The EGPA Study Group on EU Administration and Multi-Level Governance will aim for publication of high-quality papers by activating special issues of peer-reviewed journals. We welcome abstracts (500 words maximum, preferably shorter) to address one of the issues mentioned above.







Key Dates and Deadlines




-       Deadline for online submission of abstracts proposals: April 15, 2015




-       Deadline for decision and selection by the co-chairs: May 5, 2015




-       Deadline for submitting the complete papers: July 21, 2015







Conveners




-       Gijs Jan Brandsma (Co-chair), Assistant Professor in European Politics and Administration, Utrecht University School of Governance, Bijlhouwerstraat 6, 3512ZC Utrecht, The Netherlands. Telephone +31 30 253 8501, Email: g.j.brandsma@uu.nl




-       Eva Heidbreder (Co-chair), Junior Professor in Political Science and European Integration, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Universitätsstraße 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. Telephone +49 211 81 13818, Email: Eva.Heidbreder@hhu.de




-       Ellen Mastenbroek (Co-chair), Associate Professor of Public Administration, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9108, 6500HK Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Telephone +31 24 361 3022, Email: e.mastenbroek@fm.ru.nl




--
J.Prof. Dr. Eva G. Heidbreder
Politikwissenschaft / Europäische Integration




Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Universitätsstraße 1     | 40225 Düsseldorf
Tel. +49 (0)211 81-13818 | Fax.  +49 (0)211 81-10840
Eva.Heidbreder@hhu.de