Agenda setting in polycentric systems : a theoretical synthesis to analyze environmental governance

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Elephants in the room: urban primacy and economic growth in Africa

Kris Hartley recommends geographically balanced growth as a way of countering the negative impact of dominant cities on national economies

Policy Assemblages and Policy Resilience: Lessons for Non-Design from Evolutionary Governance Theory

Evolutionary governance theory (EGT) provides a basis for holistically analyzing the shifting contexts and dynamics of policymaking in settings with functional differentiation and complex subsystems. Policy assemblages, as mixes of policy tools and goals, are an appropriate unit of analysis for EGT because they embody the theory’s emphasis on co-evolving elements within policy systems. In rational practice, policymakers design policies within assemblages by establishing objectives, collecting information, comparing options, strategizing implementation, and selecting instruments. However, as EGT implies, this logical progression does not always materialize so tidily—some policies emerge from carefully considered blueprints while others evolve from muddled processes, laissez faire happenstance, or happy accident. Products of the latter often include loosely steered, unmoored, and ‘non-designed’ path dependencies that confound linear logic and are understudied in the policy literature. There exists the need for a more intricate analytical vocabulary to describe this underexplored ‘chaotic’ end of the policy design spectrum, as conjuring images of ‘muddles’ or ‘messes’ has exhausted its usefulness. This article introduces a novel metaphor for non-design—the bird nest—to bring studies of policy design and non-design into lexical harmony

The Epistemics of Policymaking: from Technocracy to Critical Pragmatism in the UN Sustainable Development Goals

This essay examines epistemological tensions inherent in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) project. The clash between the totalizing logic of the SDGs and growing populist antipathy for expert governance can be better understood and potentially mediated through a critical pragmatist view. For the SDGs, technocratic fundamentalism not only serves the ambition for universality but also ensures epistemic stability in problem framing and protects the interests that benefit from it. However, technocratic fundamentalism also undermines the mechanics of SDG localization, working against their stated aims of justice, transparency, and institutional equity; in this way, a global development agenda shaped by myopic epistemics does itself no favors on elements by which it proposes to be measured. Compounding these epistemic tensions, anti-expert and anti-intellectual populism is confronting the credibility of technocracy and governance more generally, with possible implications for national and local policymaking informed by the SDGs. The concept of critical pragmatism, as articulated by Forester, presents both a provocation to the SDG project and a vision for imparting a more participatory orientation to it. This essay elaborates on these points

Conceptualizing sustainability in China's belt and road initiative:A longitudinal analysis of scholarship (2013 - 2024)

One decade after China's announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), theoretical and practical debates linger about the environmental impacts. However, no studies have systematically analyzed how academic research conceptualizes BRI and sustainability within it. This study reviews definitional aspects and sustainability discourses concerning the BRI. Analyzing a sample of 171 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2013 and 2024, the study uses a coding framework comprising eight categories broadly covering the sustainability building blocks of the BRI. Additionally, a comparison of academic conceptualizations and China's policy practices reveals several gaps on the topics of stakeholders, investment agencies, investment volumes, and sectors. Outdated or vague conceptualizations are found in research that examines (i) China as a unitary actor, (ii) the centrality of China-led organizations like the AIIB, and (iii) BRI investment volumes and impacts. Findings also reveal that scholarly knowledge about the BRI, a decade after the initiative's announcement, remains limited and disparate. The study's meta-framework advances the literature by providing a template for bringing sustainability studies and BRI studies together into more meaningful interface

Conceptualizing sustainability in China's belt and road initiative: A longitudinal analysis of scholarship (2013 - 2024)

One decade after China's announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), theoretical and practical debates linger about the environmental impacts. However, no studies have systematically analyzed how academic research conceptualizes BRI and sustainability within it. This study reviews definitional aspects and sustainability discourses concerning the BRI. Analyzing a sample of 171 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2013 and 2024, the study uses a coding framework comprising eight categories broadly covering the sustainability building blocks of the BRI. Additionally, a comparison of academic conceptualizations and China's policy practices reveals several gaps on the topics of stakeholders, investment agencies, investment volumes, and sectors. Outdated or vague conceptualizations are found in research that examines (i) China as a unitary actor, (ii) the centrality of China-led organizations like the AIIB, and (iii) BRI investment volumes and impacts. Findings also reveal that scholarly knowledge about the BRI, a decade after the initiative's announcement, remains limited and disparate. The study's meta-framework advances the literature by providing a template for bringing sustainability studies and BRI studies together into more meaningful interface

Circular economy as crisis response: A primer

The early 2020s have been characterized by multiple convergent crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic and economic fallout of mitigation measures, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the ongoing sustainability and climate change crisis. This article discusses how the concept of the circular economy can inform responses to such crises by addressing four elements of a socio-economic system: technological innovation, supply chains and markets, public policy, and consumer behaviour. Synthesizing emerging insights from the scholarly and policymaking arenas, the article identifies the following ways that the circular economy concept can be effectively framed as crisis response: focusing on circularity in a more holistic way, adopting global value chains as the primary unit of analysis, pinpointing specific circularity aspects like drivers and barriers in value chains and business models, and extending the prevailing focus on technical aspects and material flows to often overlooked trade and geopolitical considerations. This discussion aims to articulate lessons for industry, policymakers, and scholars in leveraging a circularity approach to address the world's most pressing issues

Barriers to the circular economy: The case of the Dutch technical and interior textiles industries

The academic literature offers some insights about lagging progress on circular economy (CE) transition, including cultural, regulatory, market, and technical barriers. There is also an increasing body of knowledge about barriers to CE adoption that takes a macro-level perspective across industries. However, such studies have largely neglected the industry scale. This study fills that gap by examining barriers to CE transition in the Dutch technical and interior textiles industries. Using data from 27 interviews with manufacturers and retailers, the study finds that high costs for production and marketing, along with lack of consumer interest, are among the most substantial barriers. To provide a system-wide perspective, the study conceptualizes relationships among barriers as a chain reaction: limited knowledge of CE design options raises the difficulty and cost of delivering high-quality circular products at the firm level, while limited availability of circular supply streams combined with the orientation of existing production systems toward linear supply chains constrain CE transition at the industry level. These findings highlight the need for intervention at levels beyond the scale of individual firms, a key implication for public policy