Scholars and practitioners agree that dealing with complex policy problems poses a challenge of policy integration. In other words, we need to understand how to integrate new problems into existing policies and create linkages between existing policy systems. Up to now, the scientific literature has focused on policy integration predominantly from a policy design perspective. This special issue puts the focus on political aspects of the policy integration process. The papers examine the politics of policy integration from a theoretical and empirical perspective. The results underline the importance of issue salience, political leadership, actor consultation and policy implementation for the political process toward more policy integration.

学者和实践者一致认为，处理复杂的政策问题对政策整合提出了挑战。换句话说，我们需要了解如何将新问题融入到现有政策中，并在现有政策体系之间建立联系。到目前为止，科学文献主要从政策设计的角度关注政策整合。本期特刊重点关注政策一体化进程的政治方面。这些论文从理论和实证的角度审视了政策一体化的政治学。结果强调了问题突出、政治领导、行为者协商和政策实施对于政治进程实现更多政策一体化的重要性。