Explaining reflexive governance through discursive institutionalism: estuarine restoration in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT

The paper examines an instance of reflexive governance in environmental policy and planning and explains its emergence through a discursive institutional lens. Discursive institutionalist frameworks draw attention to the articulation and institutionalisation of new ideas and the way they produce the objects of governance, powerfully influencing the conceptualisation of problems and solutions, determining who is involved in governance processes and the nature of their interactions, and environmental policy outcomes. We draw on the notion of a discursive institutionalist spiral as a way of understanding the nearly 40-year evolving relationship between ideas, discourses and institutions that have shaped the planning context in an estuary restoration initiative on the east coast of the North Island, New Zealand. The case is based on the analysis of an archive of historical policy, planning and technical documents, and 25 in-depth interviews with participants representing different groups involved in a current restoration initiative. We suggest that the case represents a new degree of reflexivity by the responsible governing authority, that this can be explained by reference to the historical dynamic of discursive and institutional change, and that it indicates the benefits of the interactive and participatory formulation of goals and strategies in environmental governance and management.

KEYWORDS:

• Discursive institutionalism
• reflexive governance
• community
• participation

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Pia Bennett, Blair Nicholson and Thaddaeus Cobb, and members of the Maketū community, tangata whenua (Tapuika, Ngāti Pikiao, Waitaha, Ngāti Mākino, Ngāti Tunohopu, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, and the Maketū Taiapure Committee Papahikahawai Trust) and other stakeholders who willingly shared insights and knowledge. This article comes out of a larger study funded by the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge. We also thank reviewers for their insightful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the New Zealand Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge.

Notes on contributors

Patrick Barrett

Patrick Barrett is a Senior Lecturer in Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Waikato. He is the author or co-author of three books, and of journal articles on a variety of public policy topics, ranging from regional economics, environmental policy, social policy, and new social media and elections.

Priya Kurian

Priya A. Kurian is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Waikato. Her research spans environmental politics, science and technology studies, and development studies. She is author of Engendering the Environment? Gender in the World Bank’s Environmental Policies and co-editor of three books and numerous journal articles.

Naomi Simmonds

Naomi Simmonds is a Senior Lecturer at Te Wahre Wananga O Awanuiarangi. She researches and publishes on Maori and Indigenous geographies, Maori resource management, hapu and iwi sustainability initiatives, Kaupapa Maori methodologies, mana wahine, matauranga wahine and traditional histories for whanau wellbeing.

Raven Cretney

Raven Cretney has a PhD from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, and is a Research Associate in Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Waikato. Her research approaches the politics of grassroots participation in environmental and social issues, particularly following disaster and crisis. She has published journal articles and book chapters on radical articulations of resilience and the role of community-level organisation in disaster response and recovery.