Digitalization and multilevel governance

ABSTRACT

As the scope of digitalisation widens across society at large, multilevel governance arrangements have become more complex and more consequential to the coherence, performance, and accountability of public sector institutions. While this assertion has arguably been true for quite some time, the emergence of Covid-19 has magnified its importance. This chapter therefore seeks to examine the evolution of multilevel governance within the evolving context of digitization, generally as well as more specifically through the contemporary and disruptive lens of the Covid-19 health pandemic. Drawing upon a literature review, as well as current empirical observation from several OECD countries, notably Canada and Australia, the chapter sketches out prospective research directions aimed at deepening our understanding of multilevel governance systems within a rapidly evolving digitization context. © Arthur Benz, Jörg Broschek and Markus Lederer 2021.