Synchronised Politics: Multiple Times and Political Power

Introduction

Democratic policy-makers in Europe’s multi-level system grapple with multiple times, since different levels of government, parliaments, and administrative agencies follow distinct time rules and time preferences. Time clashes are an ever-present threat.

Importance of Synchronisation

Synchronisation is, therefore, a critical, but very little understood dimension of public policy-making. It is designed to avoid systematic time clashes by structuring the timing, speed, frequencies, sequences, durations, and time horizons in policy-making.

Current Challenges

Over the past decade, simultaneous demands for:

1. “Faster action”
2. “More time”
3. “Extended time horizons”

have pushed multi-level synchronisation in opposing directions.

Research Questions

In light of major contestation around synchronisation, SYNCPOL asks:

1. What happens when political demands for “faster action”, “more time” and “extended time horizons” challenge synchronisation arrangements in multi-level policy domains?
2. How does the reshaping of synchronisation arrangements alter the vertical and horizontal distribution of political power amongst governments, parliaments, and administrative agencies and the types of power in Europe’s multi-level system?

Theoretical Framework

Drawing on institutionalist theory, SYNCPOL conceptualises synchronisation arrangements as a critical variable that is fundamental to the distribution of political power amongst policy-makers.

Methodology

It rigorously probes hypotheses on this crucial connection employing a mixed-methods design that combines:

• Document analysis
• Interviews
• A major survey
• Dictionary-based text analysis
• Process tracing

Scope of the Project

The project examines synchronisation across EU, national, and subnational governments, parliaments, and administrative agencies, with a focus on six multi-level democracies:

• Austria
• Belgium
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Spain

The analysis covers two policy domains:

• Migration-asylum
• Public health policy

since the early 2010s.

Expected Outcomes

SYNCPOL will generate fundamentally new insights into how time shapes democratic multi-level politics and policy.