Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/319330 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Citation: 
[Journal:] Regulation & Governance [ISSN:] 1748-5991 [Volume:] 19 [Issue:] 2 [Publisher:] John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd [Place:] Melbourne [Year:] 2024 [Pages:] 540-557
Publisher: 
John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd, Melbourne
Abstract: 
Ineffective policies plague democratic systems and challenge their legitimacy. While existing research highlights the importance of street‐level bureaucrats (SLBs) as de facto “policymakers,” our understanding of SLBs' aggregate effects on policy outcomes remains limited. Therefore, this paper proposes a shift in perspective, redirecting attention from the micro level toward institutional structures. It introduces the concept of street‐level integration, which captures institutional structures enabling SLBs to form a strong voice of implementation and contribute to policy design through three integrative pathways. Analyzing the effects of street‐level integration on environmental outcomes in 21 OECD countries over time, the findings reveal that street‐level integration not only directly enhances outcomes through increased implementation performance but also acts as a vital factor for policy formulation increasing the effectiveness of existing and newly adopted policies. While highlighting the importance of institutional structures and SLBs for successful policymaking, the paper also offers practical recommendations for institutional reforms.
Subjects: 
environmental policy
implementation structures
policy effectiveness
street‐level bureaucracy
street‐level integration
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
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Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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