Institutional Perspectives
Summary
Lecture 1; Introduction...........................................................................................................3
Wicked and less wicked problems (Alford & Head, 2017).............................................3
Working well with wickedness (Law, 2014)...................................................................5
Disentangling governance (Steurer, 2013).....................................................................7
Lecture 2; the sphere of Civil Society...................................................................................10
Civil Society as associational life (Edwards, 2004)......................................................11
NGOs: between advocacy, service provision, and regulation (Beer et al., 2012)........14
Building capacity for low-carbon communities (Middlemiss & Parrish, 2010)..........15
Lecture 3; the sphere of the State.........................................................................................16
The environmental State and Environmental Governance (Mol, 2018).....................16
The public interest in planning (Alexander, 2002).....................................................18
Governmentality (Triantafillou, 2022)........................................................................20
The conception of public interest in Dutch flood risk management (Wiering &
Winnubst, 2017)............................................................................................................23
Lecture 4; the sphere of the Market.....................................................................................25
The invisible hand (Van Bavel, 2016)...........................................................................27
Planning, law, and economics (Needham et al., 2019)...............................................28
Lecture 5; The Environmental Planning Law......................................................................32
Lecture 6; Interconnections of state, market and civil society...........................................33
The expediency of policy integration (Candel, 2021)..................................................33
Co-creation (Ansell & Torfing, 2021)...........................................................................35
Policy entrepreneurship and policy change (Mintrom & Norman, 2009)..................37
Lecture 7; collaborative governance....................................................................................38
An integrative framework for collaborative governance (Emerson et al., 2012).......38
Environmental Democracy (Fischer, 2018).................................................................41
Lecture 8; policy success and societal transformation.......................................................42
Designing for policy success (Compton et al., 2019)...................................................42
Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways (Geel & Schot, 2007).......................44
What about the politics? (Meadowcroft, 2007)..........................................................45
,2
,Lecture 1; Introduction
Wicked and less wicked problems (Alford & Head, 2017)
W icked pr oblem s : complex, interdependent issues with no clear solutions often
involving conflicting stakeholder interests.
Key characteristics:
Hard to define
Interdependencies
Multi-causal
No clear solutions
Socially complexity
Involve changing behaviour
Organizational boundaries and responsibilities
Chronic policy failure
Conditions of wicked problems:
Str uctur al com plexity: intractability of the technical aspects.
K n ow ability: the nature of the problem or solution is unknowable.
K n ow ledge fr agm en tation : available knowledge is fragmented among
multiple stakeholders.
K n ow ledge-fr am in g: some knowledge receives either too much or too little
attention.
In ter est-diff er en tiation : stakeholder have interests which are substantially in
conflict with those of others.
Tam e pr oblem s: these have clear definitions and known solutions (e.g., water
management in the Netherlands).
Politically com plex pr oblem s : disagreements on problem recognition but clear on
actions (e.g., nitrogen management).
Cogn itively com plex pr oblem s : little is known aboufat the problem or its
implications (e.g., artificial intelligence).
Ver y w icked pr oblem : difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete,
contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize, and there
is no single solution to the problem (e.g., Covid-19).
On e-size-fi ts-all appr oach : idea of applying uniform solutions of governance
strategies to all problems, without considering their complexity, context, or unique
characteristics.
Dimensions of the problem;
Cogn itive com plexity: integrating diverse knowledge systems.
3
, Actor diver sity: variety of stakeholders involved.
In stitution al com plexity: the organizational and jurisdictional challenges.
Dealing with wicked problems, different forms of collaborations:
Auth or itative : strong leaders with a clear directive authority.
- Strengths: swift action, clear accountability.
- Weaknesses: risk of oversimplifying problems, ignoring stakeholder input.
Com petitive : encouraging competition among stakeholders to find solutions.
- Strengths: generates innovation.
- Weaknesses: may exacerbate conflicts.
Collabor ative : public consultation/ participation in decision-making.
- Strengths: builds consensus, leverages diverse expertise.
- Weaknesses: slow decision-making, risk of deadlock.
Exper t-led : relies on technical expert to analyse and propose solutions.
- Strengths: high-quality, data-driven insights.
- Weaknesses: limited understanding of social dynamics.
Adaptive gover n an ce : a governance approach emphasizing flexibility, learning, and
adaptation to changing conditions, often sued for addressing wicked problems.
Adaptive governance may lack the authority needed for enforcement.
4
Summary
Lecture 1; Introduction...........................................................................................................3
Wicked and less wicked problems (Alford & Head, 2017).............................................3
Working well with wickedness (Law, 2014)...................................................................5
Disentangling governance (Steurer, 2013).....................................................................7
Lecture 2; the sphere of Civil Society...................................................................................10
Civil Society as associational life (Edwards, 2004)......................................................11
NGOs: between advocacy, service provision, and regulation (Beer et al., 2012)........14
Building capacity for low-carbon communities (Middlemiss & Parrish, 2010)..........15
Lecture 3; the sphere of the State.........................................................................................16
The environmental State and Environmental Governance (Mol, 2018).....................16
The public interest in planning (Alexander, 2002).....................................................18
Governmentality (Triantafillou, 2022)........................................................................20
The conception of public interest in Dutch flood risk management (Wiering &
Winnubst, 2017)............................................................................................................23
Lecture 4; the sphere of the Market.....................................................................................25
The invisible hand (Van Bavel, 2016)...........................................................................27
Planning, law, and economics (Needham et al., 2019)...............................................28
Lecture 5; The Environmental Planning Law......................................................................32
Lecture 6; Interconnections of state, market and civil society...........................................33
The expediency of policy integration (Candel, 2021)..................................................33
Co-creation (Ansell & Torfing, 2021)...........................................................................35
Policy entrepreneurship and policy change (Mintrom & Norman, 2009)..................37
Lecture 7; collaborative governance....................................................................................38
An integrative framework for collaborative governance (Emerson et al., 2012).......38
Environmental Democracy (Fischer, 2018).................................................................41
Lecture 8; policy success and societal transformation.......................................................42
Designing for policy success (Compton et al., 2019)...................................................42
Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways (Geel & Schot, 2007).......................44
What about the politics? (Meadowcroft, 2007)..........................................................45
,2
,Lecture 1; Introduction
Wicked and less wicked problems (Alford & Head, 2017)
W icked pr oblem s : complex, interdependent issues with no clear solutions often
involving conflicting stakeholder interests.
Key characteristics:
Hard to define
Interdependencies
Multi-causal
No clear solutions
Socially complexity
Involve changing behaviour
Organizational boundaries and responsibilities
Chronic policy failure
Conditions of wicked problems:
Str uctur al com plexity: intractability of the technical aspects.
K n ow ability: the nature of the problem or solution is unknowable.
K n ow ledge fr agm en tation : available knowledge is fragmented among
multiple stakeholders.
K n ow ledge-fr am in g: some knowledge receives either too much or too little
attention.
In ter est-diff er en tiation : stakeholder have interests which are substantially in
conflict with those of others.
Tam e pr oblem s: these have clear definitions and known solutions (e.g., water
management in the Netherlands).
Politically com plex pr oblem s : disagreements on problem recognition but clear on
actions (e.g., nitrogen management).
Cogn itively com plex pr oblem s : little is known aboufat the problem or its
implications (e.g., artificial intelligence).
Ver y w icked pr oblem : difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete,
contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize, and there
is no single solution to the problem (e.g., Covid-19).
On e-size-fi ts-all appr oach : idea of applying uniform solutions of governance
strategies to all problems, without considering their complexity, context, or unique
characteristics.
Dimensions of the problem;
Cogn itive com plexity: integrating diverse knowledge systems.
3
, Actor diver sity: variety of stakeholders involved.
In stitution al com plexity: the organizational and jurisdictional challenges.
Dealing with wicked problems, different forms of collaborations:
Auth or itative : strong leaders with a clear directive authority.
- Strengths: swift action, clear accountability.
- Weaknesses: risk of oversimplifying problems, ignoring stakeholder input.
Com petitive : encouraging competition among stakeholders to find solutions.
- Strengths: generates innovation.
- Weaknesses: may exacerbate conflicts.
Collabor ative : public consultation/ participation in decision-making.
- Strengths: builds consensus, leverages diverse expertise.
- Weaknesses: slow decision-making, risk of deadlock.
Exper t-led : relies on technical expert to analyse and propose solutions.
- Strengths: high-quality, data-driven insights.
- Weaknesses: limited understanding of social dynamics.
Adaptive gover n an ce : a governance approach emphasizing flexibility, learning, and
adaptation to changing conditions, often sued for addressing wicked problems.
Adaptive governance may lack the authority needed for enforcement.
4
