Definition, Focus and Structure of the Chapter

Coordination (in its process dimension) can be understood (for a definition, see also Peters, 1998; Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2000: 79ff.) as the attempt to optimize the coherence and consistency of political decisions as well as policy implementation

• across policies (in order to overcome the sectoral fragmentation of policies and to achieve comprehensive and ‘holistic’ responses to complex problems);
• across actors and stakeholders (in order to accommodate the often-conflicting interests of political, socio-economic, administrative, professional etc. actors and actor ‘communities’); and
• across levels (in order to overcome the vertical fragmentation of policies and actors -with coordination problems posed not least by the vertical actors communities, ‘silos’ and ‘comradeships’ sectorally entrenched and colluding across levels ...