Missions without hierarchy? The coordination paradox in mission-oriented policies in fragmented states

Abstract

This article investigates why high levels of strategic directionality are not sufficient to ensure the effective implementation of mission-oriented innovation policies. Based on a conceptual and historical-institutional approach, grounded in evolutionary economics and the public governance literature, the study proposes a bidimensional framework that distinguishes strategic directionality and hierarchical coordination capacity as central analytical dimensions. Drawing on comparative qualitative evidence from Brazil, India, and South Africa, mobilized as analytical laboratories,the article identifies the regime of‘missions without hierarchy,’ in which strategic ambition coexists with low intra-state coordination capacity, resulting in implementation fragmentation. The main contribution lies in repositioning coordination as an explanatory variable—rather than a presupposition—of mission-oriented policies, offering an analytical instrument to understand the gap between orientation and execution. The article also outlines implications for the institutional design of industrial policies in contexts of state fragmentation.