Designing complex policy mixes: elements, processes and characteristics

In the last decade, researchers and policy makers alike have increasingly moved away from the consideration of single policy tools and towards a greater consideration of their combination and resulting interactions. Much of this policy design work has used – albeit with varying definitions and based on different bodies of literature – the term policy mix to capture such interacting instruments, may that be in environmental policy, innovation policy, biodiversity policy, or other policy fields. However, these ‘simple’ conceptualiza-tions of policy mixes have been recently extended to a consideration of more ‘complex’ policy mixes, particularly in the context of sustainability transitions, such as the transi-tion to low-carbon energy systems. This chapter will provide an overview of this new orientation in policy mix research, including an introduction to the major building blocks – the elements, processes and characteristics – as well as dimensions of ‘complex’ policy mixes. It concludes by outlining how such an extended policy mix concept can serve as integrated framework for policy mix evaluation and design.