Explaining Project-Based Policy Implementation: Multiple governance framework and causal mechanisms

Public policy is increasingly implemented with projects. The popularity of the projects as policy tools for implementation rests on the putative flexibility advantages stemming from the project's organizational structure and management ideals. However, researchers have already made remarks about the plausible drawbacks of the temporary organization for governing. Despite the surge in project-based policy implementation and the observation of dilemmas with temporary organization, projects have insufficiently been studied from an explicit implementation perspective with an explanatory ambition, that is, understanding why putting public policy into practice with projects results in certain processes and outputs. This chapter puts forth a systematized realist framework for explaining project-based implementation. Conducted as a meta-analysis of theoretical and empirical research on the subject, the chapter conceptualizes project-based policy implementation with a meta-theory of implementation, the multiple governance framework, and defines the causal mechanisms at work with three middle-range theories, metagovernance, interactive governance, and collaborative governance. The chapter thus seeks to capture the minimum and necessary elements, their relations, and potential consequences for the scientific study of project-based implementation. Moreover, it demonstrates the framework's potential with examples from the scientific research on the governance and implementation of the European Union's Cohesion Policy projects. By formulating a concise framework to guide explanatory inquiries regarding the processes and outputs of project-based public policy implementation, the study advances the understanding of an important part of the political governance systems of modern liberal democracies.