Multi-level governance

Multi-level governance is a theory of European Integration by Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks.

In this view, European governance is now a complicated set of interconnected institutions that exist at three levels: Supranational, national, and subnational. The main difference from other theories of integration is that it gets rid of the continuum or grey area between intergovernmentalism and supranationalism and in its place leaves a descriptive structure. This theory does not address the sovereignty of states directly, but instead simply says that a multi-level structure is being created by subnational and supranational actors. One of the main questions of integration theory, namely, the transfer of loyalty and sovereignty between national and supranational entities and the future of this relationship in the EU is not specifically addressed.