Understanding reasons for policy (in)coherence
Introduction
Understanding the level of coherence within and between policies is an important first step towards addressing identified weaknesses or further exploiting identified synergies. However, to design appropriate approaches to enhance the level of policy coherence, we also need to grasp the reasons behind low or high coherence.
The policy coherence framework therefore consists of two parts:
- Part A: Assessing the level of policy coherence (Assessing the level of policy coherence)
- Part B: Explanatory factors (understanding what factors cause policy (in)coherence
This page introduces Part B of the framework and provides guidance to the users of this handbook. This chapter introduces a set of explanatory factors (categories of barriers and enablers) that can help to understand the reasons behind varying levels of policy coherence.
These explanatory factors play a key role in policy design and implementation. They can help pinpoint why policies are incoherent and how coherence can be enhanced. Examples are added throughout the chapter to illustrate various barriers and enablers.
Note: Both parts of the framework can be used independently from each other. Our recommendation however is to first assess policy coherence (Part A) and then look at reasons that explain why this situation of (in)coherence occurs (Part B).
Part B of the framework is structured around three categories of explanatory factors:
1) Governmental organizations
2) Science-policy-society interfaces
3) Stakeholder involvement
Within each of these categories, sub-categories and guiding questions are provided to help you structure your analysis.
A brief introduction to the three categories of explanatory factors
1. Governmental organizations
Governmental organizations hold the primary responsibility for designing and implementing policies. These organizations range from local (such as municipalities) to national (like agencies or ministries) to EU and international levels (for example, EU Directorates, UN agencies). A policy issue is often managed by several governmental organizations. The interactions between these organizations, including coordination, distribution of responsibilities, and power dynamics, affect the design and implementation of policies. This interplay is a key factor in explaining the occurrence of coherence or incoherence.
2. Science-policy-society interfaces
Science-policy-society interfaces (SPSI) describe processes of how knowledge and data is being produced, transferred, and utilized in decision-making processes. Effective SPSIs can promote and support policy coherence, as they allow for evidence-based policy processes. Exploring SPSIs implies to look at the various actors involved in the knowledge system, what type of knowledge is being used, and how it influences decision-making.
While the guidance in this chapter provides an easy guide to understand the role of SPSIs for policy coherence, we recommend to consult the CrossGov guidance on SPSI analysis for a more comprehensive assessment methodology for this category. A full and more extended analysis of the variable “SPSI” can be found in the CrossGov Blueprint (Capurso et al 2025).
3. Stakeholder involvement
Stakeholder involvement describes how different interested and affected parties participate in policymaking and policy implementation. Inclusive and transparent involvement can generally enhance coherence by ensuring that multiple perspectives are considered. In turn, unbalanced stakeholder involvement that is strongly dominated by certain powerful actors can have the opposite effect and cause incoherence. Investigating existing stakeholder involvement mechanisms and power dynamics is therefore important for explaining different levels of coherence between policies.
Guidance
The three categories of explanatory factors are subdivided into more defined sub-categories of barriers and/or enablers. For these sub-categories, brief introductions are provided that explain their role and importance for policy coherence. For each sub-category, we have developed guiding questions that are intended to help you understand what to look for. Examples are added.
The guiding questions are designed to analyze different types of policies or thematic focus areas. Not all questions may be relevant to the policies you are interested in. You should select those guiding questions that are applicable to your specific analysis.
Note
Note that for each type of explanatory factor, a list of guiding questions helps identify potential reasons for observed coherence or incoherence. These list of explanatory factors and guiding questions are intended as a non-exhaustive. It is encouraged to reflect upon additional reasons for coherence challenges that are not captured by the current list and add these to the assessment where appropriate. For example, certain coherence challenges stem from historical legal developments and need therefore be understood in a broader political and legal context. Also note that there is no hierarchy between the explanatory factors and sub-categories and not all questions may be relevant for each analysis context. We recommend to select the questions that are relevant for the particular study.
While the policy coherence framework has been developed within the Horizon Europe funded CrossGov project under the leadership of the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), complementary research has been carried out within the Horizon Europe funded BlueGreen Governance project. As partner in the latter project, NIVA had the possibility to verify the structural division of explanatory factors, to identify a typology of sub-categories, and to identify examples through a systematic literature review of coastal and marine governance literature.
For the systematic literature review on the barriers and enablers on policy coherence in literature on coastal and marine governance, see further ‘Institutional barriers and enablers Scientific Review Report’ (p.16-27), as well as Saskia Trubbach, Ellen Johannesen and Froukje Maria Platjouw (2025), 'Archetypical patterns of barriers and enablers to policy coherence in European marine and coastal governance: A systematic review', Journal of Environmental Science and Policy (forthcoming).
Further reading
For an overview of the references and sources used for the development of this handbook, see References and sources.
A more comprehensive methodological guidance on the assessment and understanding of science-policy-society interfaces has also been developed in the CrossGov project and is available here: Blueprint to strengthen SPS interfaces in the marine domain.