TY - JOUR

T1 - Multi-level Governance, Multi-level Deficits: The Case of Drinking Water Management in Hungary

AU - Leventon, Julia

AU - Antypas, Alexios

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - This paper improves our understanding of failed implementation in the European Union by studying a case whereby a member state has transposed legislation but failed to comply with it. Drawing on existing literature on transposition deficits, this paper creates a framework for interrogating implementation failures in the EU's multi-level governance system. It is applied to a Hungarian case study to explain why parts of the country continue to deliver drinking water that exceeds the Drinking Water Directive's limits for arsenic, creating a public health risk. The failure to comply is shown to be a series of linked implementation deficits at every level of the governance system. Processes of horizontal and vertical disintegration are clearly demonstrated. The conclusions make policy recommendations with wider relevance to other cases of failed implementation. Recommendations are also made for research that uses our framework as a starting point to understand the drivers behind individual deficits.

AB - This paper improves our understanding of failed implementation in the European Union by studying a case whereby a member state has transposed legislation but failed to comply with it. Drawing on existing literature on transposition deficits, this paper creates a framework for interrogating implementation failures in the EU's multi-level governance system. It is applied to a Hungarian case study to explain why parts of the country continue to deliver drinking water that exceeds the Drinking Water Directive's limits for arsenic, creating a public health risk. The failure to comply is shown to be a series of linked implementation deficits at every level of the governance system. Processes of horizontal and vertical disintegration are clearly demonstrated. The conclusions make policy recommendations with wider relevance to other cases of failed implementation. Recommendations are also made for research that uses our framework as a starting point to understand the drivers behind individual deficits.

KW - Politics

KW - Arsenic

KW - Europeanization

KW - Governance

KW - New member states

KW - Transdisciplinary studies

KW - Environmental legislation

KW - Implementation

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84865155387&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/eet.1590

DO - 10.1002/eet.1590

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84865155387

VL - 22

SP - 253

EP - 267

JO - Environmental Policy and Governance

JF - Environmental Policy and Governance

SN - 1756-932X

IS - 4

ER -