Current policy studies are concerned with understanding and explaining “the logic, the workings and the effects of various governance constellations” in order to arrive progressively at a broader picture of the current changes in the governance of education systems (see Altrichter, 2010). Investigating the processes of implementing ESD on federal state level in Germany during the UN declared Decade (2005-2014) has proved to be a fruitful field for undertaking a governance study, because of the participatory, evaluative character of the implementation logic of the ESD Decade (UNESCO, 2005). In the ESD Decade Implementation Scheme national governments are called upon their declared commitment to become active themselves as well as to generate collective ownership and willingness through broad participation; further civil society, companies and communal actors are encouraged to become active in alliances and networks (see Nikel & Heinrich, 2014). The cooperation and interdependence of divers actors have become a recent focus in ESE policy studies (Feinstein,et al. 2013; Van Poeck et al., 2013).

In our study we understand the implementation logic of the ESD Decade as a request for innovation in governance directed at those involved in the implementation of ESD on national /federal policy level. Therefore, we investigate how this request of the ESD Decade influences the coordination of action between those actors involved in the implementation of ESD – hence the governance of ESD - on federal level in Germany. In other word, we investigate how state actors and civil society actors interested in implementing ESD in the education system in their country change the way they work together and coordinate their efforts joint by a shared goal.

We aim for a mechanism-oriented explanation of governance processes. As defined by Mayntz (2005: 207f) mechanisms are understood as “recurrent processes which connect a certain condition with a certain result” without taken a deterministic view. First, we investigate what has changed in the coordination of action of diverse actors over in the ESD Decade period. Secondly, we ask, how can these empirically observable changes are explained. We consider that there are identifiable mechanisms providing explanations (see Langer 2009).

Altrichter, H. (2010) Theory and evidence on governance. Conceptual and empirical strategies of research on governance in education. EERJ 9 (2), 147-158. Gläser, J./Laudel, G. (2010) Experteninterviews und qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Wiesbaden. Feinstein, N.W., et. al (2013) When does nation-level analysis make sense? ESD and educational governance in Brazil, South Africa, and the USA. EER 19 (2), 218-230. Langer, R. (2009) Methodologie der Mechanismen-Analyse. In: Lüde, R. v./Moldt, D./Valk, R. (Hrsg.) Selbstorganisation und Governance in künstlichen und sozialen Systemen. Münster: LIT, S. 153-192. Mayntz, R. (2005) Soziale Mechanismen in der Analyse gesellschaftlicher Makro-Phänomene. In: Schimank, U./Greshoff, R. (Hg.) Was erklärt die Soziologie? Berlin: LIT, S. 204-227. Nikel, J./Heinrich, M. (2014) Nicht-nachhaltige Implementierung einer Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung? Empirische Analysen zur Governance des BNE-Transfers, in: Heinrich, M./Kohlstock, B. (Hg.) Educational Governance aus ökonomischer Perspektive. Wiesbaden. Nikel, J./Haker, C. (2015) Intermediäre Aushandlungsräume. Herausforderung für die Governanceanalyse und grenzüberschreitende Handlungskoordination im BNE-Transfer. In: Zeitschrift für Bildungsforschung, DOI 10.1007/s35834-015-0130-3. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (2005) United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014) International Implementation Scheme. Paris (Abrufbar unter: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001486/148654e.pdf. [01. Mai 2014]). Van Poeck, K./Vandenabeele, J. & Bruyninckx, H. (2014) Taking stock of the UN Decade of education for sustainable development: the policy-making process in Flanders, EER 20 (5), 695-717.