TY - JOUR

T1 - Disentangling Puzzles of Spatial Scales and Participation in Environmental Governance

T2 - The Case of Governance Re-scaling Through the European Water Framework Directive

AU - Newig, Jens

AU - Schulz, Daniel

AU - Jager, Nicolas Wilhelm

N1 - Funding Information: This work has been carried out within the project GoScaLE (Participatory Governance and the Impact of Scales on Democratic Legitimacy and Effectiveness) under grant no. 1207/3-1 of the German Research Foundation (DFG). GoScaLE was part of the collaborative project WaterScale (Water Governance and Problems of Scale. The Example of Institutionalizing River Basin Management through the EC-Water Framework Directive), www.waterscale.info . We thank Tim Moss, Frank Hüesker, and Wiebke Grund for discussions and comments on the research presented here. Publisher Copyright: © 2016, The Author(s).

PY - 2016/12/1

Y1 - 2016/12/1

N2 - This article attempts to shed new light on prevailing puzzles of spatial scales in multi-level, participatory governance as regards the democratic legitimacy andenvironmental effectiveness of governance systems. We focus on the governance re-scaling by the European Water Framework Directive, which introduced new governance scales (mandated river basin management) and demandsconsultation of citizens and encourages ‘active involvement’ of stakeholders. This allows to examine whether and how re-scaling through deliberate governance interventions impacts on democratic legitimacy and effective environmental policy delivery. To guide the enquiry, this article organizes existing—partly contradictory—claims on the relation of scale, democratic legitimacy, and environmental effectiveness into three clusters of mechanisms, integrating insights from multi-level governance, social-ecologicalsystems, and public participation. We empirically examine Water Framework Directive implementation in a comparative case study of multi-level systems in the light of the suggested mechanisms. We compare two planning areas inGermany: North Rhine Westphalia and Lower Saxony. Findings suggest that the Water Framework Directive did have some impact on institutionalizing hydrological scales and participation. Local participation appears generally bothmore effective and legitimate than on higher levels, pointing to the need for yet more tailored multi-level governance approaches, depending on whether environmental knowledge or advocacy is sought. We find mixed results regarding the potential of participation to bridge spatial ‘misfits’ between ecological and administrative scales of governance, depending on the historical institutionalization of governance on ecological scales. Polycentricity, finally, appeared somewhat favorable in effectiveness terms with some distinctdifferences regarding polycentricity in planning vs. polycentricity in implementation.

AB - This article attempts to shed new light on prevailing puzzles of spatial scales in multi-level, participatory governance as regards the democratic legitimacy andenvironmental effectiveness of governance systems. We focus on the governance re-scaling by the European Water Framework Directive, which introduced new governance scales (mandated river basin management) and demandsconsultation of citizens and encourages ‘active involvement’ of stakeholders. This allows to examine whether and how re-scaling through deliberate governance interventions impacts on democratic legitimacy and effective environmental policy delivery. To guide the enquiry, this article organizes existing—partly contradictory—claims on the relation of scale, democratic legitimacy, and environmental effectiveness into three clusters of mechanisms, integrating insights from multi-level governance, social-ecologicalsystems, and public participation. We empirically examine Water Framework Directive implementation in a comparative case study of multi-level systems in the light of the suggested mechanisms. We compare two planning areas inGermany: North Rhine Westphalia and Lower Saxony. Findings suggest that the Water Framework Directive did have some impact on institutionalizing hydrological scales and participation. Local participation appears generally bothmore effective and legitimate than on higher levels, pointing to the need for yet more tailored multi-level governance approaches, depending on whether environmental knowledge or advocacy is sought. We find mixed results regarding the potential of participation to bridge spatial ‘misfits’ between ecological and administrative scales of governance, depending on the historical institutionalization of governance on ecological scales. Polycentricity, finally, appeared somewhat favorable in effectiveness terms with some distinctdifferences regarding polycentricity in planning vs. polycentricity in implementation.

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Multi-level governance

KW - Re-scaling

KW - Democratic dilemma

KW - Polycentric governance

KW - Sustainable water resources management

KW - Mandated participatory planning

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84988603361&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s00267-016-0753-8

DO - 10.1007/s00267-016-0753-8

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 27650440

VL - 58

SP - 998

EP - 1014

JO - Environmental Management

JF - Environmental Management

SN - 0364-152X

IS - 6

ER -