Summary

In recent decades, European governments have become more internally fragmented and have transferred substantial competences to organizations on the EU level. This new public sector landscape necessitates a sufficient level of trust and cooperation between governmental actors within and across all levels of government. For instance, multiple national-level supervisory agencies are required to communicate with one another and their policy-making counterparts, while EU-level agencies and European Commission directorate-generals are frequently tasked with the coordination of national authorities in all 27 Member States. Moreover, within federal systems such as Belgium and Germany, national-level entities must cooperate with their regional or state-level counterparts, as well as local governments. While trust is essential for such interorganizational relations to work well, GOVTRUST research focuses not only on the functionalities of trust between governments. We also study the potential dysfunctionalities of trust and the functionality of some level of distrust between governments. Blind trust between governmental actors may for instance lead to an overreliance on each other's conclusions, with potential detrimental consequences if the conclusions of a trusted governmental organization prove to be mistaken.

Related publications

  • Bursens, P., Popelier, P., & Verhoest, K. (2023). Belgium: Cooperation Out of Necessity and Confirmation of Executive Dominance. In K. Lynggaard, M. D. Jensen, & M. Kluth (Eds.), Governments’ Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Europe: Navigating the Perfect Storm (pp. 387-396). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14145-4_32
  • Frateur, J., Bursens, P., & Meier, P. (2023). Exploring the Relationship between Federal Reform and the Representation of the People: The Case of the Belgian House of Representatives. Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 53(4), 618-641. https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjad006
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  • Langbroek, T., & Verhoest, K. (2023). Explaining interactions in collaborative innovation arrangements: How organizations influence their representatives’ interactions in collaborative innovation arrangements. Public Policy and Administration, 09520767231200275. https://doi.org/10.1177/09520767231200275
  • Bursens, P., De Vadder, S., Glavina, M., Popelier, P., van Zimmeren, E., Verhoest, K., Beutels, P., & Pepermans, K. (2022). Vertrouwen in de overheid tijdens de COVID-19-pandemie. Een vergelijking tussen meerdere overheidsniveaus. Vlaams Tijdschrift voor Overheidsmanagement, 2022-1, 45-60.
  • Bursens, P., & Meier, P. (2022). Representation in demoicracies: Contributions from Belgian federalism for the Conference on the Future of Europe. European law journal, 28(1-3), 50-62. https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12391
  • Callens, C., Wynen, J., Boon, J., & Verhoest, K. (2022). Internal and external exploration for public service innovation–Measuring the impact of a climate for creativity and collaborative diversity on innovation. Public Policy and Administration, 09520767221135686. https://doi.org/10.1177/09520767221135686
  • Kinder, T., Six, F., Stenvall, J., & Memon, A. (2022). Governance-as-legitimacy: Are ecosystems replacing networks? Public Management Review, 24(1), 8-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2020.1786149
  • Meier, P. (2022). Belgium: Federalism as a Stopover? In S. Keil & S. Kropp (Eds.), Emerging Federal Structures in the Post-Cold War Era (pp. 33-48). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93669-3_2
  • Popelier, P. (2022). De Belgische staatshervormingen in het licht van een dynamische theorie van federalisme. In C. Jenart, J. Bernaerts, Y. Peeters, P. Popelier, D. Vanheule, & V. Verbelen (Eds.), De grondwet en Jan Velaers: Een vriendschapsgewijze commentaar (pp. 11-19). Die Keure.
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  • Popelier, P., Glavina, M., Baldan, F., & van Zimmeren, E. (2022). A research agenda for trust and distrust in a multilevel judicial system. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 29(3), 351-374. https://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X221096026
  • Prozowska, D. (2022). Trust lost, trust regained? Trust, legitimacy and multi-level governance. In C. Lord, P. Bursens, D. De Bièvre, J. Trondal, & R. A. Wessel (Eds.), The Politics of Legitimation in the European Union. Legitimacy Recovered? Routledge.
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  • Bursens, P., Meier, P., & Popelier, P. (2021). When Dual Federalism Meets External Crises. UACES-JMCT Workshop on Conceptualising Crisis in Territotrial Politcs, online.
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  • Popelier, P. (2021). Dynamic Federalism: A New Theory for Cohesion and Regional Autonomy. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Dynamic-Federalism-A-New-Theory-for-Cohesion-and-Regional-Autonomy/Popelier/p/book/9780367652920
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  • Popelier, P., & Bursens, P. (2021). Managing the Covid-19 Crisis in a Divided Belgian Federation: Cooperation against all odds. In N. Steytler (Eds.), Comparative Federalism and Covid-19 (pp. 88-105). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003166771-7/managing-covid-19-crisis-divided-belgian-federation-patricia-popelier-peter-bursens
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  • Bursens, P. (2020). Federalism and the COVID-19 crisis: Reflections on competences, actors and party politics in Belgium. Dealing with the COVID crisis in Federal and Devolved Countries, Forum of Federations. https://forumfed.org/document/federalism-and-the-covid-19-crisis-federalism-and-the-covid-19-crisis-reflections-on-competences-actors-and-party-politics-in-belgium/
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  • Dockx, E., & Verhoest, K. (2020). Wendbare overheid: Tijdelijke project- en programmastructuren met een horizontaal, transversaal en/of gebiedsgericht karakter. Steunpunt Bestuurlijke Vernieuwing Vlaanderen.
  • Dockx, E., Verlinden, S., & Verhoest, K. (2020). Wendbare overheid: Overheidscultuur gericht op flexibiliteit, innovatie, leren en samenwerking. Steunpunt Bestuurlijke Vernieuwing Vlaanderen.
  • Meier, P. (2020). L’asymétrie du système federal belge – tellement particulière? In C. Xhardez, M. Counet, F. Randour, & C. Niessen (Eds.), 50 ans de fédéralisation de l’État belge: Institutions, acteurs, politiques publiques et particularités du fédéralisme belge (pp. 41-56). Academia-L’Harmattan.
  • Popelier, P. (2020). How dynamic federalism sheds new light on the Belgian federalism-confederalism debate. Federalisme regionalisme, 20 (2020), 1-24.
  • Popelier, P. (2020). Le fédéralisme dynamique. In F. Mathieu, D. Guénette, & A.-G. Gagnon (Eds.), Cinquante déclinaisons de fédéralisme (pp. 123-135). Presses de l’université de Québec. https://capcf.uqam.ca/publication/chapitre-9-le-federalisme-dynamique/
  • Popelier, P. (2020). Regionalisering en afscheiding in de Europese Unie: Een multilevel-governance-perspectief. SEW, Tijdschrift voor Europees en economisch recht, 68(4), 423-431.
  • Popelier, P. (2020). The constitutional court’s impact on federalism in Belgium: A weakening of the centralization theory. In Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung (Eds.), Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2020 (pp. 67-77). Nomos.
  • Six, F. E. (2020). How to develop youth care governance signaling trust. Finnish Itla Children’s Foundation, 7 August 2020. https://itla.fi/how-to-develop-youth-care-governance-signaling-trust/
  • Van Nieuwenhove, J., & Popelier, P. (2020). De bevoegdheidsverdeling en de coördinatie tussen de bevoegde overheden in de strijd tegen de COVID-19-pandemie. Tijdschrift voor wetgeving, 4 (2020), 303-313.
  • Voets, J., Verhoest, K., & Van Humbeeck, P. (2020). Editoriaal. Samenwerken in netwerken? Van wetenschap naar praktijk. Vlaams Tijdschrift voor Overheidsmanagement, 2020-2, 3-12.
  • Kersschot, M., Kerremans, B., & De Bièvre, D. (2020). Principals and transceivers: regional authorities in EU trade negotiationsPolitical Research Exchange, 2(1), 1-20.
  • Mathieu, E., Matthys, J., Verhoest, K., & Rommel, J. (2020). Multilevel regulatory coordination: The interplay between European Union, federal and regional regulatory agencies. Public Policy and Administration.

Related projects

  • Sustainability and Trust in EU Multilevel Governance (STRATEGO) – 2023-2026 – EU Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence – Peter Bursens, Philippe Beutels, Dirk De Bièvre, Marijn Hoijtink, Erik Matthysen, Johan Meeusen, Petra Meier, Patricia Popelier, Johanna Vanderstraeten, Wouter Van Dooren, Esther van Zimmeren, Koen Verhoest, Sara Vicca, Jan Wynen
  • Federal Dynamics in Multilevel Governance – 2023-2025 – BOF SEP Fostering EU FP & FWO SBO projects – Patricia Popelier
  • Legitimate crisis management and multilevel governance (LEGITIMULT) – 2022-2025 – EU Horizon Europe HORIZON-CL2-2021-DEMOCRACY-01-05 – Patricia Popelier, Peter Bursens, Maja Sahadzic (partner) 
  • Intergovernmental Coordination from Local to European Governance (IGCOORD) – 2021-2025 – COST Actions – Peter Bursens (management committee member), Wouter Van Dooren, Patricia Popelier
  • Assessing and Fostering Independence in Specialised International Courts – 2020-2024 – FWO Junior postdoctoral fellowship – Federica Baldan, Esther van Zimmeren
  • Constitutional strategies in the face of multilevel governance – 2019-2023 – Patricia Popelier