Exogenous factors in collective policy learning: the case of municipal flood risk governance in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

Conceptualizing and analyzing collective policy learning processes is a major ongoing theoretical and empirical challenge. A key gap concerns the role of exogenous factors, which remains under-theorized in the policy learning literature. In this paper, we aim to advance the understanding of the role that exogenous factors play in collective learning processes. We propose a typology of exogenous factors (i.e. material, socioeconomic, institutional, discursive), and subsequently apply this in a comparative study of flood risk policymaking in two municipalities in the Netherlands. We find that exogenous factors are indeed essential for understanding collective learning in these cases, as the combined influence with endogenous factors can steer similar learning processes towards different learning products. We conclude our contribution by identifying two opportunities for further developing the collective learning framework, namely regarding the distinction of varying learning products, and the dynamics of exogenous factors over time.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental governance
• water governance
• policy change
• flood risk management
• external factors
• subnational governance

Acknowledgements

We gratefully thank all interviewees for their time and efforts in contributing to the research. We also thank Prof. Dave Huitema, Open University of the Netherlands, and several anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Douwe de Voogt MSc is a Guest Researcher at the Open University, Heerlen, the Netherlands. He has previously worked on the CAPFLO project for the Institute of Environmental Studies (Vrije Universiteit), addressing participatory capacity building for flood risk management, and conducted a case study for the Open University about flood risk governance in the Netherlands. This case study is part of an international comparative study by the University of Lausanne on climate change adaptation in fluvial flood risk governance. Douwe has a background in Environment and Resource Management with a focus on governance. His areas of interest include environmental policymaking and water governance.

Dr James Patterson is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Governance at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. His work focuses on institutional innovation and change: how and why institutions do change, and with what effects on governance systems and society? Empirical domains of application include urban climate change governance and water governance. Previously James has worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Vrije Universiteit and Open University, the Netherlands, and the University of Waterloo, Canada, and received his PhD from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Notes

1 Taking insight from the triple-loop model of learning, this visualization also implies that the outcomes of learning should (at least theoretically) have the potential to cut across all spheres (e.g. Armitage, Marschke, & Plummer, 2008; Pahl-Wostl, 2009).

2 See Appendix A (available online) for an overview of consulted archive records.

3 As of October 2017, this is the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.

4 The urban area of Venlo consists of three city districts: Venlo with 37,000 inhabitants, Blerick (27,000 inhabitants), and Tegelen (19,000). Before the aggregation of several municipalities, including Tegelen in 2001 and Arcen en Velden in 2010, nearby municipalities with urban districts along the Meuse were previously also collectively known as the ‘City district Venlo’ (Stadsgewest Venlo) and shared a budget for local developments.

5 Early 1990s, Venlo had formulated plans for redeveloping Maasboulevard, an urban riverside stretch. Although at first the plan did not include flood risk, the floods disrupted its implementation. In 2004 the plans were reformulated and included compensatory measures for flood risk increase (H₂O, 2004; interviewee 10).

6 However, in 1995 this buffer effect of the lakes had already been exhausted due to continuous rainfall before the peak water levels were reached (RWS, 1995). There is thus a somewhat false sense of security at play here.

7 Neuvel and van den Brink (2009) found a similar trade-off between low perceptions of flood risk compared to the need for housing when Dutch municipalities contemplated spatial flood risk measures.

Additional information

Funding

This research was conducted within the project ‘The governance of climate change adaptation’ led by the University of Lausanne, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation [grant number 153525].