Subnational Governance and the Politics of Policy Change at Critical Junctures

The panel chairs invite submissions of abstracts that explore the causes and dynamics of subnational policy change in multilevel contexts, both in Europe and beyond, particularly at critical junctures. Recent events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate-related emergencies, the energy crisis, geopolitical instability, post-pandemic recovery programmes, and the acceleration of green and digital transitions, have increased pressure on subnational governance arrangements while also creating new opportunities for policy change.
Subnational governments are not merely the site of national or supranational policies implementation. They can reinterpret policy goals, (re-)combine existing policy tools in new ways, create innovative solutions, resist externally imposed reforms, or alter broader policy directions. Therefore, particular attention should be given to understanding why similar pressures and significant events lead to varying forms, directions, and degrees of policy change across different areas. Papers may explore, for example, how factors such as ideas, political leadership, party competition, institutional arrangements, administrative and policy capacities, fiscal resources, and territorial interests influence these diverse trajectories.
We welcome contributions that:
- focus on vertical and horizontal interdependencies. This includes studies on how national and supranational pressures are translated across subnational governments, how coordination and conflict among levels of government influence policy changes, and the conditions under which subnational innovations spread across jurisdictions or scale up to transform national policies;
- focus on any aspect of local and regional policy, including but not limited to environmental and waste policy, healthcare, innovation and industrial policy, migration, local welfare, and public management;
- compare subnational governments across European countries, or compare European cases with those from other regions in the Global North and Global South;
- draw on a wide range of theoretical traditions, including both established and innovative perspectives on policy change;
- adopt a variety of methodological approaches, such as qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods designs.
Submissions from early-career scholars and underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged, reflecting the panel’s full commitment to EDI.