Circular Economy Transition in The Context of Multilevel European Governance: The Cases of Finland and Scotland

The aim of this study is to outline how a circular economy (CE) is emerging as public policy programs in the context of European multi-level governance. Our findings highlight strong and relatively functional vertical governance relationships visible in the Finnish effort to promote a CE transition. We also found that Scotland faces difficulties with its ambitious CE policy, because it tries to follow the framework of the European mainstream multi-level governance as a nonEU-member country which contrasts with more conservative policies of the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the study identified clear horizontal governance relationships at national levels of both countries, because the central governments have to acquire know-how and support services from many arm’s length bodies which have the necessary expertise and capability to work flexibly with local governments and other stakeholders.