While policy coordination via institutional means resonates well with the current preoccupation with ‘good governance’, the implementation of ‘rational’ structures and procedures can be a highly contentious matter, hence the importance of a more political perspective. At the administrative level, contention arises from distinct cultures and routines in the bureaucratic segments of an administration and from the ‘rational’ inclination of each part to protect its competences, resources and ways of doing things from the intervention of other parts. At the end of the day, greater policy integration does often require political leadership from above.