Discontinuation of the automobility regime? An integrated approach to multi-level governance

The case study at hand investigates a largely neglected phenomenon: the discontinuation of incumbent socio-technical regimes by means of deliberate governance. Comparing actor constellations and policy measures in four different countries (the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands) and on the EU level, we identify strategies and measures that have been applied to challenge the automobility regime. Instead of creating a new analytical framework for studying the governance of discontinuation, we propose to use three existing concepts, namely the multi-level perspective (MLP), multi-level governance (MLG) as well as actor-centred approaches, combining them into one integrated concept labelled “multi-level governance of socio-technical regimes”. From this perspective, the European Union is the most active actor in attempts to restrict automobility, especially exerting pressure at the landscape level. However, in spite of various challenges, the automobility regime still remains considerably stable.