Policy Integration for Complex Environmental Problems: The Example of Mediterranean Desertification(Routledge Studies in Environmental Policy and Practice)

The quest for policy integration crystallized in the 1990s as awareness was growing that the current supply of narrow, sectoral, and little coordinated, or even overlapping and conflicting, policies could not cope efficiently and effectively with contemporary complex, cross-cutting and interdependent socio-environmental problems. Combining and coordinating policies properly promises to address this institutional misfit, "add value" to policies, support planning at national and sub-national levels, and facilitate the transition to sustainable development more generally. This book proposes a comprehensive conceptualization of policy integration and negotiates pertinent theoretical, methodological and applied issues from the perspective of selected EU policies - rural development, regional development, transport, social, economic, environmental, water resources, and biodiversity policy. Mediterranean desertification, an exceptionally complex socio-environmental problem, is used as an illustrative example as the idea for this book transpired while researching the topic of policy making to combat desertification in the context of MEDACTION, an EU-funded research project.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Complex environmental problems and the quest for policy integration, Helen Briassoulis; Analysis of policy integration: conceptual and methodological considerations, Helen Briassoulis; Policy integration in the framework of EU regional policy, Constantinos Liarikos; EU rural development policy: the drive for policy integration within the second pillar of the CAP, Apostolos G. Papadopoulos; European Union social policies: the conundrum of policy integration, Theodoros Iosifides and Helen Briassoulis; Integration of EU water and development policies: a plausible expectation?, Giorgos Kallis, Helen Briassoulis, Constantinos Liarikos and Katerina Petkidi; Biodiversity policies in the European Union: achieving synergies with other policies?, Vassilis Detsis; Sustainable forest management in the European Union: the policy integration question, Aristotelis C. Papageorgiou, Georgios Mantakas and Helen Briassoulis; Policy integration: bringing space back in, Helen Briassoulis; Policy integration: an elusive concept or a realistic goal?, Helen Briassoulis; Index.

About the Author :
Helen Briassoulis is Professor at the Department of Geography, University of the Aegean, Greece.

Review :
’This book is a very timely and important contribution to debates on policy integration and the environment. With its focus on a wide range of theoretical, methodological and applied issues from the perspective of selected EU policies, this book will be of particular interest to those working on European policy issues, European integration, environmental policy implementation and the multi-faceted complexity of today's national and international policy-making.’ Geoff Wilson, University of Plymouth, UK ’This book provides a comprehensive and timely treatment of the theoretical and methodological aspects of policy integration, focusing on EU policies and using Mediterranean desertification as an illustrative example. It is a valuable reading for policy researchers and practitioners alike who grapple with contemporary complex and cross-cutting socio-environmental problems.’ Rudolf S. de Groot, Wageningen University, The Netherlands ’This book provides a very interesting conceptual framework for addressing contemporary policy issues such as coordination, synergy, integration, concerted action, etc., in a policy context which increasingly recognizes the necessity to safeguard for cross-impacts and linkages across sectors.’ Harry Coccossis, University of Thessaly, Greece 'The work overall is highly informative and carefully edited. For a collection the writing style and language are remarkably consistent. Briassoulis and her co-authors should be commended for producing a high-quality collection of essays about the different policies at work in the EU. The work is of a consistently high standard of writing and every chapter is richly detailed and referenced.' European Spatial Research and Policy '...enriches the discussions concerning global climate change...provides inspiring thoughts and proposals...' International Journal of Environment and Pollution