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We suggest attention to policy regimes provides a fruitful means for joining the contributions of scholars who study policy processes with those who are concerned with governance challenges. Our research synthesis underscores the limits of existing theorizing about policy processes for problems that span multiple areas of policy and highlights the prospects for and limitations of governing beyond the boundaries of subsystems. We suggest new avenues for theorizing and research in policy processes based on the concept of a boundary-spanning policy regime. We develop notions about this type of policy regime within the context of the broader literature about regimes in political science, discuss the forces that shape the strength and durability of such regimes, and provide a variety of examples. This synthesis challenges the focus of policy process scholars on subsystems and broadens the traditional focus on policymaking to consideration of the dynamics of governing.
KEY WORDS: policy regimes, subsystems, governance
Introduction
Problems that span traditional boundaries of poUcymaking are messy both in terms of formulating policy and for governing once policies are devised. Consider, for example, the persistent problems in the United States posed by environmental harms, illegal drug use, urban UIs, and poverty, or the escalating problems of global climate change, depletion of the oceans, and threat of terrorism. Each of these crosscut multiple areas of poUcy and their attendant poUcy subsystems. As a consequence, it is difficult to craft and implement coherent policy approaches. Donald Kettl (2006, pp. 12-13) aptly described this conundrum in commenting that "the new challenges of 21st century Ufe - from terrorism to pandemics and international trade to cUmate change - have undermined the ability of boundaries - any boundaries, drawn anywhere - to deal with truly important and inescapable issues."
The goal of greater poUcy cohesion is a core element of various approaches to coordinated governmental action that are subjects of a diverse array of research by governance scholars. This has entailed consideration of policy czars and governmental reorganizations (see March & Olsen, 1983; Wilson, 1989, pp. 268-74), whole-of-government approaches involving "joined-up" government (see Christensen & Laegreid, 2007; Ling, 2002; Perri 6, 2004), horizontal modes of governance (see Termeer, 2009), and the Open Method of Coordination as developed in the European Union (see Radaelli, 2008)....