The post-political nature of marine spatial planning and modalities for its re-politicisation

ABSTRACT

Marine spatial planning (MSP) has become the most adopted approach for sustainable marine governance. While MSP has transformative capacity, evaluations of its implementation illustrate large gaps between how it is conceptualised and how it is practiced. We argue that these gaps arise from MSP being implemented through post-political processes. Although MSP has been explored through post-political lenses, these evaluations are incomplete and do not provide sufficient detail about the complex nature of the post-political condition. Drawing on seminal literature, we conceptualise the post-political as consisting of highly interconnected modalities of depoliticisation, including: neoliberalism; choreographed participation; path dependency; technocratic-managerialism; and the illusion of progressive change. Using these modalities as an analytical framework, we evaluate English MSP and find that it focuses on entrenching neoliberal logic through: tokenistic participation; wholescale adoption of path-dependent solutions; obstructionist deployment of inactive technological solutions; and promising progressive change. We do not, however, view the post-political condition as unresolvable and we develop a suite of suggestions for the re-politicisation of MSP which, collectively, could form the basis for more radical forms of MSP.

KEYWORDS:

• Marine spatial planning
• post-political planning
• marine governance
• neoliberalism
• participation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jane Clarke is a PhD candidate in the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University Belfast. Her key research interests are marine spatial planning (MSP) and climate change, with a particular emphasis on the decision-making process relating to the transition to a low-carbon economy. Her research is funded by the Northern Ireland Department for Economy and subsidised by funding from the Marine Institute of Ireland.

Wesley Flannery is a senior lecturer in the School of the Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University Belfast. His key research interests are in MSP, integrated coastal zone planning and stakeholder participation in environmental decision-making.

ORCID

Jane Clarke http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6982-6423

Wesley Flannery http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0998-3851

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Department for Economy, Northern Ireland.