Implementing policy innovations - Resource dependence, struggle for discursive hegemony and institutional inertia in the Dutch river policy domain

Due to climate changes, the volume of the water flowing in the rivers will continue to increase and the sea level will continue to rise. To be able to cope with potential future flood disasters, Dutch policy makers now try to elaborate and implement a new safety concept, called ‘space for the river’. The basic idea of this new safety concept is to increase the amount of space for the rivers, and by that to enlarge their discharge capacity. The aim of the large national ‘Space for Rivers’ project is to develop river-widening measures which improve both the safety of the inhabitants and the spatial quality of the riverine areas at the same time. Replacing dikes, digging out old river branches or creating new ones (bypasses) are some examples of possible measures. This paper focuses on the institutional dynamics brought about by this new safety concept. The national water management agency Rijkswaterstaat realised that for the implementation of this new safety concept it is largely dependent on the cooperation of other national ministries, provinces, municipalities, water boards, NGOs and inhabitants of the areas along the main rivers. Therefore, an innovative policy process was designed aimed at joint learning, and at creating administrative and societal support for an ambitious river policy program. During this process three key-dilemmas became apparent. First, there is a permanent tension, partly caused by financial scarcity, between the objectives of safety and spatial quality. Secondly, in spite of the interactive policy design chosen, existing institutions, such as the procedure for large scale infrastructure projects (‘PKB-procedure’), do support governmental hierarchy rather than horizontal modes of governance. Finally, there is a tension between long term and short term policy objectives. In other words: what relative importance is attached to either reaching safety standards in the short run or anticipating future river discharges? The main argument of this paper is that to better understand these dilemmas we need to reconstruct the frames of reference of the parties involved and the different rules of the game water managers and spatial planners are used to play.

influences on local leadership in Dutch water management

Processes of transformation, aimed at adaptation of environmental change, are often initiated in informal arenas where forerunners meet and breed. In order to connect such transformations to the existing socio-political context an adequate form of environmental governance is needed. This implies a key role for public decision-makers as gate keepers that can link an innovative policy proposal to the existing complexities of the government context in which social barriers, democratic obligations and the representation of existing routines that might be challenged by this innovation. This paper will focus on a radical change in the water management strategies of the South western delta area and specifically the resalinization of the Volkerak-Zoommeer. In the light of ecological rehabilitation and safety from possible flooding the need to restore this artificially maintained fresh water basin to its former state and allow influence of marine dynamics has been articulated. These adaptations provide several challenges for finding alternatives for the supply and use of fresh water to existing agriculture and industry. The role of local political leadership in the process of combining and synchronizing existing routines with innovations that require a change of these routines is regarded as essential. These connective capacities of leadership are subject to various influencing factors such as personal characteristics, the local and supra- local environment and institutional arrangements. Theoretically we distinguish leadership behavior in transactional, daring and transformational typologies. It would be hypothesized that daring leadership, which we conceptualize as a combination between transactional and transformational repertoires is most suitable for the successful coupling of innovative proposals with existing routines. Through empirical case study, the paper will explore key motivational elements resulting in specific leadership behavior as well as the ensuing possibilities for successful integration of the innovative proposals into existing policy

Household Water Supply Strategies in Urban Bandung, Indonesia: Findings and Implications for Future Water Access Reporting

Through structured interviews and statistical analyses, this study investigated access to water and strategies of 1227 vulnerable households in Bandung, Indonesia. The use of mixed water sources, household water treatment, and home storage suggest low trust in improved sources, and compromised safety and reliability of water. While official statistics suggest a high level of access to improved water sources, full-time access to such sources is overestimated. Integration of user behavior into the new monitoring approach for the water supply sector in the post-2015 development framework is proposed

How to assess the adaptive capacity of legislation and policies

Abstract: Intuitively it is clear that institutions can both enhance and hamper the adaptive capacity of a society. But what characteristics make an institution more or less helpful for development and implementation of adaptation strategies? Based on the literature, we developed an analytical framework to assess the adaptive capacity of institutions. The Adaptive Capacity Wheel consists of six dimensions: variety, learning, autonomous ability to change, leadership, legitimacy and resources. The six dimensions were operationalised into 22 criteria and were applied to formal institutions in a content analysis. We conclude that sometimes dimensions and criteria seem to contradict each other, which is not surprising, because this reflects existing paradoxes in the governance of society. We would like to discuss the analytical instrument and its possible uses with the audience of the Amsterdam Conference

Participatieve monitoring in Lumbricus : Een brug tussen innovatie en implementatie

Nederland staat voor een aantal grote uitdagingen op het gebied van het waterbeheer, dat heeft de zomer van 2018 nog maar eens extra duidelijk gemaakt. Omdat het klimaat verandert krijgen we vaker te maken met extreme neerslag en langdurige perioden van droogte. Dit heeft direct consequenties voor onder andere de waterkwaliteit en de waterkwantiteit. Op de hoger gelegen zandgronden in Nederland zijn deze consequenties zo mogelijk nog groter omdat hier de mogelijkheden om water tijdelijk te bergen of van elders aan te voeren vaak veel beperkter zijn

Explaining continuity and change in international policies: issue linkage, venue change, and learning on policies for the river Scheldt estuary 1967 – 2005

This paper aims to assess the explanatory power and to explore the compatibility of three major accounts of policy continuity and change in cross-border policy domains: negotiation analysis (NA), the advocacy coalition framework (ACF), and the punctuated-equilibrium (PE) framework. These frameworks are used to analyze policies for the river Scheldt estuary between 1967 and 2005. The estuary of the river Scheldt is situated partly in the Belgian region of Flanders and partly in the Netherlands. Major international policy issues in this estuary are the maritime access to the port of Antwerp, water and sediment pollution, and estuarine rehabilitation. It will be shown that the negotiations on these issues are characterized by complex issue linkages, and that NA does very well in explaining both deadlocks and international policy agreement. However, unlike the ACF, NA does not specify how actors come to define their interests. Moreover, we will argue that learning across the prodevelopment Antwerp coalition and the cross-border environmentalist coalition accounts for a gradual convergence of Dutch and Flemish perceived interests. Finally, PE offers useful complementary insights as Scheldt estuary policies cannot be understood without addressing the interrelations between the processes of negotiation, learning, the creation and enforcement of game rules, which have been going on in different venues simultaneously.

The Generation, Diffusion, and Impact of Innovations in Global Water Governance

The purpose of this contribution is to turn an eye to the worldwide discussion on water governance of the past decades, and key innovations that have been proposed there. We do so because water is a major passion of Helen Ingram's, she is a critical follower of water governance innovations (see for instance Ingram, 2008), and she is a stern advocate for applying social science theory to water management issues (see, e.g., Blatter and Ingram, 2001). We also do so because water managers around the world are surrounded by increasingly uncertain and unpredictable social and ecological environments

Självtillit, motivation och studieansatser : En longitudinell studie om hur civilingenjörsstudenter upplever sina studier och övergång till arbetsliv

The aim of this thesis is to explore the experiences of four cohorts of students from their first semester until one year after graduation, with the focus on how they perceive their opportunities to influence their study conditions transition to work. The study has a longitudinal design. Data collected from students in a MSc programme in engineering started in the first semester and continued yearly until one year after graduation and consisted of questionnaires and interviews. Results indicate that students’ perceptions of their opportunities to influence their study conditions is related to their self-efficacy and motivation; strategies they use and approaches to studying they adopt. Students adopt an adaptive approach, based on the perception that the programme is supposed to be demanding and that students should accept and adapt to the conditions of the programme; a critical approach, based on the perception that difficult conditions are negative because they make it hard to reflect on what is studied; or a cooperative approach, based on the perception that cooperation with peers is important. Quantitative results show that cohorts who studied project-based courses cooperate significantly more with peer students than cohorts who study in conventional courses. Students with most project based courses experienced workload and social support in different ways than other students. The final study on students’ transition to work show that students who study in many project-based courses are more prepared to work than students who study conventional courses. The overall findings indicate that it is important to integrate psychological, social and individual ways of interpreting the student experiences of their studies and transition to work.Syftet med avhandlingen är att utforska fyra studentkohorters erfarenheter frånderas första termin till ett år efter deras examen, med fokus på hur de uppleversina möjligheter att påverka sina studieförhållanden samt erfarenheter av att blianställningsbara. Avhandlingen baserar sig på en longitudinell studie.Datainsamlingen från studenter på Civilingenjörsprogrammet för Teknisk fysikoch elektroteknik påbörjades första terminen och pågick årligen till ett år efter attde tagit examen och bestod av frågeformulär och intervjuer. Resultaten visar attstudenternas upplevelser av sina möjligheter att påverka sina studieförhållanden ärrelaterade till deras självtillit (self-efficacy) och motivation; de strategier som deanvänder och de studieansatser som de antar. Studenter antar en adaptivstudieansats, baserad på uppfattningen att programmet ska vara krävande och attstudenter ska acceptera och anpassa sig till programmets förhållanden; en kritiskstudieansats, baseras på uppfattningen att svåra studieförhållanden är negativaeftersom de gör det svårt för studenten att reflektera över det som studeras; elleren kooperativ studieansats, baserad på uppfattningen att samarbete medstudiekamrater är viktigt. Kvantitativa resultat visar att årskullar som läserprojektbaserade kurser samarbetar mer med studiekamrater än årskullar som läserkonventionella kurser. Vidare upplevde studenter med flest projektbaserade kurserarbetsbelastningen och det sociala stödet på andra vis än övriga studenter. Densista studien om studenters övergång till arbetsliv visade att årskullar som läserprojektbaserade kurser känner sig mer redo att börja arbeta än årskullar som läserkonventionella kurser. De övergripande resultaten visar att det är viktigt attintegrera psykologiska, sociala och individuella sätt att tolka studenterserfarenheter av sina studier och övergång till arbetslivet

Environmentalism, renewed concern for flood safety, and the Europeanization of Dutch water policies, 1970–2010

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