Smart mixes and the challenge of complexity: the example of global climate governance

The idea of improving the performance of environmental policies by combining various instruments and approaches in a smart way is attractive. However, from a theoretical perspective, the idea of optimal mixes seems problematic. This chapter starts from the assumption that governance fields (i.e. the multiple institutions, both public and private, that are operating within a given policy arena across multiple levels) can be best described as complex systems, and consequently develops an argument about the usefulness of complexity sciences in studying smart policy mixes. The area of climate change governance after the Paris Agreement serves as our empirical illustration.