Does problem complexity matter for environmental policy delivery? How public authorities address problems of water governance
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In: Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 196, 01.07.2017, p. 1-7.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Does problem complexity matter for environmental policy delivery?
T2 - How public authorities address problems of water governance
AU - Kirschke, Sabrina
AU - Newig, Jens
AU - Völker, Jeanette
AU - Borchardt, Dietrich
PY - 2017/7/1
Y1 - 2017/7/1
N2 - Problem complexity is often assumed to hamper effective environmental policy delivery. However, this claim is hardly substantiated, given the dominance of qualitative small-n designs in environmental governance research. We studied 37 types of contemporary problems defined by German water governance to assess the impact of problem complexity on policy delivery through public authorities. The analysis is based on a unique data set related to these problems, encompassing both in-depth interview- based data on complexities and independent official data on policy delivery. Our findings show that complexity in fact tends to delay implementation at the stage of planning. However, different dimensions of complexity (goals, variables, dynamics, interconnections, and uncertainty) impact on the different stages of policy delivery (goal formulation, stages and degrees of implementation) in various ways.
AB - Problem complexity is often assumed to hamper effective environmental policy delivery. However, this claim is hardly substantiated, given the dominance of qualitative small-n designs in environmental governance research. We studied 37 types of contemporary problems defined by German water governance to assess the impact of problem complexity on policy delivery through public authorities. The analysis is based on a unique data set related to these problems, encompassing both in-depth interview- based data on complexities and independent official data on policy delivery. Our findings show that complexity in fact tends to delay implementation at the stage of planning. However, different dimensions of complexity (goals, variables, dynamics, interconnections, and uncertainty) impact on the different stages of policy delivery (goal formulation, stages and degrees of implementation) in various ways.
KW - Sustainability Science
KW - Complex problem solving
KW - Complex problems
KW - Diffuse source pollution
KW - Point source pollution
KW - Water Framework Directive
KW - Wicked problems
KW - Politics
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28284126
U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.02.068
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.02.068
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 28284126
VL - 196
SP - 1
EP - 7
JO - Journal of Environmental Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Management
SN - 0301-4797
ER -