Transitions through reflexive interventions in governance networks

Abstract Transitions toward a desirable future require changes at the level of social networks that ‘manage’ or ‘govern’ societal systems. Learning is a crucial component of transitions, because transitions require change while it is not known yet how to realize that change. Intervention is another crucial component of transition which is essential in order to realize change in networks which are full of established routines and vested interests. In this paper we explore how learning and intervention can be fruitfully combined in an approach which we call ‘reflexive interventions’. In that way, learning is not purely theoretical and intervention is not purely based on routine. We describe a practical method of ‘reflexive intervention’ in the early stages of change processes, and we do a preliminary assessment of its effectiveness. We conclude that they are probably a contribution to ‘knowledge-democracy’

The roles of news media as democratic fora, agenda setters, and strategic instruments in risk governance

This study analyzes news media’s role in governmental decision-making processes related to a gradually intensifying series of earthquakes resulting from gas drilling in the Netherlands, and catastrophic natural earthquakes in Italy. According to the risk governance actors interviewed in both cases, media play three roles, as: democratic fora, agenda setters, and strategic instruments. Media attention for risk can create ripple effects in governmental decision-making processes. However, media attention tends to be risk-event driven and focuses on direct newsworthy consequences of events. For ‘non-event risks’, or when newsworthiness after a risk-event fades, the media’s agenda setting and democratic fora roles are limited. This contributes to risk attenuation in society, potentially resulting in limited risk prevention and preparedness. Governmental actors report difficulties in using news media for strategic communication to facilitate risk governance because of media’s tendency towards sensationalism. Our research suggests that, in the governance of earthquake-risk news, media logic overrules other institutional logics only for a short while and not in the long run when the three roles of media do not reinforce each other

The Limited Transformational Power of Adaptive Governance: A Study of Institutionalization and Materialization of Adaptive Governance

Following the economic crisis in 2007–2008, many urban regeneration programmes were replaced with forms of adaptive governance (e.g. slow urbanism). This paper maps and analyses transformational effects of such adaptive governance initiatives through a case of neighbourhood restructuring. It studies whether adaptive governance institutionalizes – i.e. transforms the existing governance system – and whether it materializes in the built environment. It shows how the adaptive governance initiatives in this case failed to diffuse and endure, and, therefore, the transformational effect on both the existing governance system and the area has been limited. The reasons for this are discussed

Does participation predict support for place brands? An analysis of the relationship between stakeholder involvement and brand citizenship behavior

This article studies in how far participation of stakeholders enhances their active support for place brands, conceptualized in this study as Brand Citizenship Behavior (BCB). Combining insights from governance and branding theory this article uses survey data (N = 162) among stakeholders involved in branding processes of two Dutch regions. The analysis shows that more intense participation in the development of the brand is related to more BCB. Beyond participation, perceived value of the brand for stakeholders and degree of place identity (identification with place) also positively relate to brand citizenship behavior. The findings not only confirm the importance of participation in achieving support for public brands, but also provide insight into the role of affective factors (identification) and interest-based factors (value of the brand for the stakeholder) on BC

Does Disclosure of Performance Information Influence Street-level Bureaucrats' Enforcement Style?

Governments use different regulatory instruments to ensure that businesses owners or "inspectees" comply with rules and regulations. One tool that is increasingly applied is disclosing inspectees' performance information to other stakeholders. Disclosing performance information has consequences for street-level bureaucrats because it increases the visibility of their day-to-day work. Using a survey (n =507) among Dutch inspectors of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, this article shows that the disclosure of performance information has an impact on enforcement style at the street level. Findings show that perceived disclosed performance information positively enhances all three dimensions of street-level bureaucrats' enforcement style (legal, facilitation, and accommodation). This effect is strongest for facilitation and accommodation and weakest for the legal style. Perceived resistance by inspectees partly explains this effect. Contrary to expectations, more perceived disclosure does not result in more but in less perceived resistance of inspectees by street-level bureaucrats

Nationale Citymarketing Monitor 2010

Inleiding Citymarketing is volop in beweging. In het begin van de jaren tachtig was het aantal gemeenten met een citymarketingbeleid nog relatief klein; inmiddels doen veel meer gemeenten aan citymarketing1. Anno 2010 is citymarketing één van de gemeentelijke beleidsterreinen. Citymarketing komt terug in collegeakkoorden, er zijn wethouders met citymarketing in de portefeuille en er zijn ambtenaren belast met het ontwikkelen, coördineren en uitvoeren van citymarketing . Ook zien we op meerdere plaatsen externe – vaak deels door de gemeente gesubsidieerde - partijen die een belangrijke rol vervullen in de citymarketing. Soms hebben deze externe organisaties vooral uitvoeringstaken, maar er zijn ook externe organisaties die verantwoordelijk zijn voor het ontwikkelen en coördineren van het citymarketingbeleid. We kunnen ook spreken van een beroepsgroep van citymarketeers. Een goed voorbeeld hiervan is dat er veel professionals lid zijn van de Linked In groep voor citymarketing. Ook kunnen we zeggen dat de aard en omvang van citymarketingactiviteiten in de afgelopen decennia is veranderd. Zo was city branding nauwelijks aan de orde in de jaren tachtig en negentig. Vanaf de millenniumwisseling is de belangstelling voor het gebruik van branding toegenomen

Leading frontline enforcers: How supervisors’ leadership style impacts inspectors’ enforcement style

This article analyzes the relation between leadership style of managers and the enforcement style of street-level bureaucrats. We also studied the influence of organizational culture. The analysis is based on a survey among 549 inspectors of the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) in The Netherlands. Studying transactional leadership and servant leadership the findings show that contrary to the general assumptions in leadership literature the influence of leadership style on enforcement behaviour of inspectors is only very limited. Organization culture has more influence on how inspectors enforce rules in their interactions with inspectees

The Sustainable Development Goal on Water and Sanitation

Target 7c of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG 7c) aimed to halve the population that had no sustainable access to water and basic sanitation before 2015. According to the data collected by the Joint Monitoring Programme in charge of measuring progress towards MDG 7c, 2.6 billion people gained access to safe water and 2.3 billion people to basic sanitation. Despite these optimistic figures, many academics have criticised MDG 7c. We provide an overview of this critique by performing a systematic literature review of 61 studies conducted over the MDG implementation period (2002-2015) and shortly after. Our objective is to contribute to the debate on the operationalisation of the Sustainable Development Goal on water and sanitation (SDG 6). The academic debate on MDG 7c mainly focused on the effectiveness of the indicators for safe water and sanitation and on the political dynamics underlying the selection of these indicators. SDG 6 addresses some of the concerns raised on the indicators for safe water and sanitation but fails to acknowledge the politics of indicator setting. We are proposing additional indicators and reflect on the limitations of using only quantitative indicators to measure progress towards SDG 6

The effect of the EU‐brand on citizens’ trust in policies : replicating an experiment

Karens et al. (2016) conducted an experiment to measure the effect of the European Union (EU) brand on citizens' trust in policies. Experiments conducted with economics students in Belgium, Poland, and The Netherlands showed a consistently positive and significant effect of applying the EU brand, on trust in the policies. This study presents seven replications conducted several years after Karens et al.'s experiments. The replications show no significant effects of the EU brand on trust in policies. These findings demonstrate that brand effects may vary over time. To identify a population effect size across all experiments, a meta-analysis was conducted. The meta-analysis shows that-overall-the EU-brand has a small but significant positive effect on citizens' trust in policies. The article tests earlier findings, and discusses intricacies of conducting replications. It elaborates explanations for the results in the replications, and the replication problems with experiments based on evaluative conditioning