Water and Ground Governance on Multiple Levels: an ex-ante assessment of the Netherlands’s new ‘Water and Ground Steering’ policy framework

Abstract

Amid the increasing severity of floods and dwindling land availability, the management and governance of water and ground have moved up the social and political agendas. The importance of adequate cooperation and coordination between different governance levels, both vertical and horizontal (i.e., multi-level governance or MLG) that are concerned with water and ground management is increasingly being recognised. The Netherlands has a long history with, mainly water-related, MLG policies of which the ‘Water en Bodem sturend’ (Water and Ground steering or WBS) policy framework is the latest. WBS aims to steer spatial planning policymaking to accommodate the limits of the water and ground systems in the Netherlands. This research revolves around an ex-ante assessment of the WBS policy framework and thereby also attempts to bridge the knowledge gap concerning evaluating the effectiveness of MLG policies. The corresponding research question reads: “What governance strategies are able to enhance the effectiveness of a MLG policy, and to what extent?” The research question consists of two parts. Firstly, it seeks to determine how the effectiveness of MLG policies can be assessed. Secondly, it attempts to distinguish the governance strategies that can enhance the measured policy effectiveness.

Based on scholarly literature, a novel analytical framework was developed that can assess the effectiveness of MLG policies. An embedded case study analysis was adopted, in which the overarching MLG structure of the Netherlands was the context and the unit of analysis was the WBS policy framework. Furthermore, three sub-units were selected, namely the provinces Noord-Holland, Utrecht and Overijssel. Subsequently, WBS-related documents were gathered and 15 interviews were conducted with policy advisors from the provinces or individuals who have knowledge of the policy framework. The documents and interviews were qualitatively coded and analysed using the developed analytical framework.

The research found that WBS scored worst on the ‘are the short-term and long-term effects of policies accounted for?’ and ‘are the different problem frames comprised into a common perspective?’. Hence, the employed governance strategies focused mainly on the mentioned indicators, as this could yield the most improvements to the effectiveness of WBS. A combination of connectivity and temporal strategies were used to address the shortcomings of WBS regarding said indicators. This study demonstrated that the effectiveness of a MLG policy (framework) can be assessed and highlighted the potential of employing governance strategies to enhance the effectiveness