http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/14776/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39283/ 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z This article proposes a complexity-informed framework for evaluating transportation infrastructure projects. The article does this through four steps. First, the properties of infrastructure development projects are discussed. This leads to the conclusion that the specific locality or contextualization of a given project is important for explaining the outcome. Hence, there is a need for an ontology and epistemology that addresses the importance of this contextualization. The second step concerns the development of the prerequisites for a methodological framework that follows from this epistemology and ontology. The third step is the assessment of common infrastructure evaluation methods against these prerequisites. This leads to the conclusion that a comparative case-based approach is the most suitable way to study the relationship between context and outcomes in projects. A framework based on Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is presented in the fourth step. The article concludes with a discussion of the further development of QCA. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/39767/ 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z Many methods are used in research on complexity. One of these is qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). Although many authors allude to the relationships between complexity and QCA, these links are rarely made explicit. We propose that one way of doing so is by using critical realism as a meta-framework. This article discusses the viability of this approach by examining the extent to which QCA is a complexityinformed method. This question is answered in three steps. First, we discuss the nature of complexity and its epistemological implications. Second, we focus on Bhaskar’s perspective on critical realism and show how it can be used as a framework for understanding social complexity. Third, we examine the ontological and epistemological assumptions underlying QCA and synthesize these with our critical realist approach to complexity. We argue that complex reality is non-decomposable, contingent, non-compressible and time-asymmetric. We conclude that, although QCA is inevitably reductive (i.e. it compresses reality) and partial (i.e. it decomposes reality), its core premises are built upon the notions of contingency and time-asymmetry. Therefore, it is not only a powerful method for doing complexity-informed research, but is also a complexity-informed method by itself. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37576/ 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Systematische kwalitatieve vergelijkende analyse (SKVA) – of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in het Engels – is in 1987 door Charles C. Ragin geïntroduceerd met zijn boek The comparative method. Ragin beoogt met zijn werk een brug te slaan tussen kwalitatief casusonderzoek en kwantitatief variabelegeoriënteerd onderzoek, waarbij hij een synthese van beide onderzoekstypen voorstelt. SKVA staat een vergelijking van casussen voor, waarbij de gedetailleerde complexiteit van afzonderlijke casussen en de diversiteit van het desbetreffende verschijnsel grotendeels behouden blijven (Ragin, 1987). SKVA kan voor verscheidene doeleinden worden gebruikt, waaronder het systematisch samenvatten en ordenen van grote hoeveelheden kwalitatieve data, het ontdekken van patronen en verschillen tussen casussen en het ontwikkelen en articuleren van nieuwe theoretische stellingen (Rihoux & Ragin, 2009). Wij zien SKVA niet zomaar als een methode om kwalitatieve casussen te vergelijken, maar vooral ook als een methode om grounded theory te integreren met vergelijkende procedures. Door in de eerste fase theorie te ontwikkelen op basis van het casusmateriaal en de casussen vervolgens met SKVA te vergelijken wordt de onderzoeker in staat gesteld om de iteratieve beweging tussen theorie, analyse en vergelijking te systematiseren en transparant te maken. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21452/ 2010-11-30T00:00:00Z Abstract. This article analyzes the relationship between the processes of policy making, management and research and the way in which the Westerschelde estuary developed be- tween 1985 and 2006. The Westerschelde has three core functions: economically: it makes the port of Antwerp ac- cessible; ecologically: it generates habitats for certain unique species; and in terms of safety: its morphology helps pre- venting the hinterland from being flooded. We analyze how the processes of policymaking, management and analysis fo- cused on these three aspects, and how they in turn affected the physical system of the Westerschelde. We proceed to develop a framework for evaluating the pol- icy making, management and esearch and how this impacts the Westerschelde. We apply this framework to twenty years of policy making on, management of, and research about the Westerschelde. We conclude that policy, management and research, due to learning effects, take the dynamics of the Westerschelde into account to a greater extent than they have in the past, but there exist a real probability for old routines to return. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16375/ 2010-02-01T00:00:00Z Initiatives to encourage the involvement of citizens and NGOs in decision-making can be seen in a wide variety of countries. Interactive policy-making, citizen panels, citizen charters, new forms of participation and other forms are being used to increase the influence of citizens on decision-making. An important issue in scientific debate is the relationship between citizen participation and existing democratic institutions. The main question for this article therefore is: what are the possibilities and difficulties in creating interconnections between interactive governance and existing democratic institutions? We have conducted an action research project to organize this interconnection between an interactive governance project (Around Arnemuiden, Living with Water) and existing democratic institutions. We describe and evaluate the interface arrangements we created: political, executive, professional, and policy interface. The executive, professional, and policy interfaces turned out to be weak or moderate, while the political interfaces was strong. Executives and professionals are reluctant to actively involve and commit to interactive processes. The organization of the interconnection between interactive processes and existing representative democratic institutions is very difficult and needs constant maintenance. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21197/ 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z The main argument of this article is that public decision-making has an anthropocentric focus that lacks explanatory power. An alternative approach is suggested. This approach reframes decision-making as a process of coevolution between decision-makers and the system they attempt to govern. Coevolution can explain the occurrence of unintended, unforeseen and unwanted consequences of decisions. The framework is applied to analyze a case of planning port extensions in Hamburg, Germany, in order to demonstrate the workings of the coevolutionary approach to public decision-making processes. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21509/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21608/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z Inleiding Hoogheemraadschappen en waterschappen in Nederland zijn continu bezig met de plaats van water in de samenleving. Lange tijd was dit een vanzelfsprekende bezigheid. De veiligheid van de dijken en bescherming tegen hoog water had de hoogste prioriteit en daarover was weinig maatschappelijke discussie. Het denken over de plaats van water in de samenleving is echter aan verandering onderhevig. Zeker na de overstromingen in 1993 en 1995 werd de gevolgde strategie opnieuw tegen het licht gehouden en ontstond het besef dat het tegenhouden van water door middel van dijken alleen niet tot in het oneindige haalbaar zou zijn. ... etc. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26364/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z SAMENVATTENDE CONCLUSIE: Aan de RMNO is gevraagd om een advies uit te brengen aan het Ministerie van Verkeer & Waterstaat, dat ingaat op het bestuurlijk vermogen rond watervraagstukken als onderdeel van gebiedsontwikkeling. In welke mate zijn de betrokken actoren in staat oplossingen voor watervraagstukken te realiseren? Hoe kan dit vermogen vergroot worden? Onze conclusie, aan de hand van een steekproef van zeven gebieden die we hebben onderzocht, is dat het bestuurlijk vermogen lijkt toe te nemen, maar de complexiteit van de vraagstukken ook. Er is een cumulatie van maatschappelijke wensen in gebieden, en het proces van integratie of synchronisatie van de doelen van verschillende gebiedspartijen wordt lastiger. De watergovernance is aangeland in een fase waar met name expliciet aandacht nodig is voor de manier waarop de communicatie en interactie tussen het nationaal waterbeleid en regionaal ruimtelijk beleid is vormgegeven.... http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/11152/ 2008-04-17T00:00:00Z Seaports in Europe are constantly engaged in fi erce competition over market share and one of the strategies utilised to survive this competition is to increase the capacity of the ports. Such a strategy can include the extension of quaysides, the building of new terminals and the construction of better road and railway connections between the port and the hinterland. Th e maritime connection between the port and the sea is another important factor that aff ects the ability of the port stay competitive. Since new ships are designed with larger drafts, port authorities are obliged to increase the dimensions of the navigation channel in order to allow the ships safe passage. After all, if ships do not fi t into the channel, they can never reach the port. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16482/ 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z This article approaches the spatial development of the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands from a coevolutionary point of view. We use two main concepts within coevolutionary framework; bounded instability and punctuated equilibrium, to understand the relationship between Dutch spatial policies and actual developments in the port of Rotterdam. We observe that the actual port system is generally more diverse than the public policy that governs it, and that the policy appears to simply follow and codify port developments. This result negates the assumption that spatial developments in the port of Rotterdam are steered and planned through public policy and raises several questions on the role of such policy initiatives. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21189/ 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z It is by no means a new idea that the world we live in is an interconnected one. Centuries before Castells’ seminal trilogy ‘The Information Age’, various European philosophers adopted a systemic view in order to explain certain physical and social phenomena. The 1950s were the heyday of total systems thinking: the idea that everything is connected to everything. This led to the assumption that planning and policy making should cover every relevant variable, and planners and policy makers alike aspired to develop all-inclusive models of society. This was then combined with a comprehensive rational approach in an attempt to weigh all alternatives to arrive at a certain decision. Planning bureaus were established in order to facilitate such efforts at social engineering (Klijn & Snellen 2009) http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/12572/ 2007-01-09T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/12573/ 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z Background, Aims, and Scope. Sediment management in coastal zones is taking place in high complex environments. Present management options do not have a sophisticated way of dealing with the actual complexity of the physical and the social systems and with the unpredictability that is inherent with these systems. Therefore, a new approach in both policy making and sediment management is needed that takes this complexity into account. The aim of this article is to explore the dynamics in social and natural systems and to draw the contours of this new approach for policy processes and sediment management that fits to the dynamics of the systems. Results and Discussion. The case studies show that chance events can occur in the biophysical and in the social system. In the three cases, players or actors in the decision process are left with the choice to adapt themselves to the occurring chance events or to refrain from any adaptive behaviour. Chance events can open up new possibilities by activating (new) actors and by coupling to new issues. If the situation is too locked-in (i.e. a stalemate) and is intentional on behalf of the actors, than the chance event will have no effect. There are, however, situations of lock-in that are unintentional, and in such situations a chance event can remove this lock-in. The effects depend largely on the adaptive capacity of the actors to respond adequately and timely to such situations. The adaptive capacity can be increased (and uncertainty reduced) by a better understanding of both the physical and the social system. The case studies show that adaptation is an adequate way of dealing with the occurrence of chance events. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21302/ 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21516/ 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract: In this article the theoretical concepts of path-dependency and lock-in are applied to the geometry of the Zeeland delta in the Netherlands. They are used to show that even very small and unpredictable events can cause systems to remain on a path that is practically impossible to leave because the costs of leaving are too high. As a result, systems can lock into a certain outcome based on continuous rational decisions that have been made in the past. It is recognised that the positioning of the dykes in the Zeeland delta has locked into a geometry that is nowadays perceived as unfavourable. Non-predictability, non-ergodicity, inflexibility and path-inefficiency, which are all properties of path-dependency and lock-in, provide perspectives for examining how the positioning of the dykes has evolved over time. They also offer explanations about how decisions pertaining to the development of land in the past have led to results that are now considered to be unfavourable. As a consequence policy makers are considering investing considerable resources in order to restore a favourable situation. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21520/ 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/12761/ 2006-08-31T00:00:00Z In the quest for sustainable water management, it is often difficult to balance economical, social and ecological demands. This paper addresses this issue by discussing the difficulties that arise in attempting to identify competing claims at the actor level, and by asking how these competing claims affect the process of incorporating long-term perspectives into actual policy processes. The authors have used the concept of perspectives or frames to address the above questions, within the context of two Dutch water management projects : the first in the Western Scheldt Estuary and the second in Rijnland, a polder network in the west of the Netherlands. Actor level perspectives were sought and an analysis was carried out to find out what this would mean for the water management approaches adopted in each of these regions. From the results of this study, the authors come to the following three conclusions. First, actors involved in water management projects should be aware that while the goal of their project might seem very legitimate from one perspective, it can go against the priorities of actors holding another perspective and this clash can have significant impact on the processes and outcomes of the project. Secondly, the fact that the perspectives and visions of the stakeholders can not be known beforehand means that the process manager should show a high level of flexibility and adapt to the dynamic process. . Thirdly, the way that plans to meet project goals are designed have important impact on the outcome of efforts to reach a mutual decision and stakeholders should have ample opportunity to give their input during this process. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/12638/ 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z Oorspronkelijk was het conflict vernauwd tot de vraag of China Taiwan zou kunnen inlijven, of andersom. Omdat het hier twee onverenigbare standpunten betreft en geen van de partijen in staat was om het conflict definitief te beslechten is een status-quo ontstaan. Dat was aanvankelijk voor geen van de partijen een gewenste situatie maar nu blijkt deze impasse door veel respondenten te worden gezien als een serieuze optie. Dat laat een omslag zien van het denken over het conflict: wat eens ondenkbaar was, wordt nu wenselijk geacht. Hetzelfde geldt voor de Hongkong-constructie. Dat dit nu als een reële mogelijkheid wordt gezien was in het begin ondenkbaar. Het is een afzwakking van de ambitie Taiwan onvoorwaardelijk in te lijven. Onvoorwaardelijke inlijving wordt door een kleine minderheid nog genoemd als serieuze optie. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21522/ 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z Recent is het besluit gevallen over de verdieping van de Westerschelde. Een onderzoek van de auteurs laat zien dat niet alleen een positieve maatschappelijke kosten-batenanalyse maar ook een interactief proces gericht op overeenstemming tussen overheden en stakeholders, hebben bijgedragen aan een breed gedragen en integraal besluit over de toekomst van het Schelde-estuarium. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21592/ 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21492/ 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract Goal, Scope and Background The management of sediments poses complex problems. One of the problems is the division of decision-making power, knowledge and money across different actors. These interdependencies call for stakeholder involvement. The various risks of stakeholder involvement are discussed from practical experience. Following this discussion, recommendations will be made regarding the interactive management of sediments in national and cross-national rivers. Main Features The first two sections will show stakeholder involvement to be both required and necessary. Stakeholder involvement ranges from no involvement, e.g. just being informed, to the other side of the scale where decision-making power is handed over to the stakeholders. Each level of participation has its own rules and roles for stakeholders, experts and policymakers. Once a certain level is chosen, the participants should adhere to it. The third section focuses on the risks accompanying stakeholder involvement. Two kinds of pitfalls are presented and discussed. The first covers general pitfalls that may occur in all kinds of processes. They comprise a lack of representativeness among the participants, the different levels of knowledge between experts and laymen, lack of communication between parties, clashing expectations when parties expect a different process than others, and finally the problem of neglecting the stakeholders when the policy process arrives at the decisionmaking phase. The second kind of pitfall occurs in international rivers. Matters become even more complicated when rivers cross borders. In that case, stakeholder involvement means dealing with different cultures and institutional differences as well. Results and Discussions All these pitfalls mean that the process of stakeholder involvement is not as straightforward as it may seem. Every pitfall noted is accompanied by recommendations for the participants in future interactive processes of sedimentrelated policy-making. Conclusions Involvement of stakeholders when dealing with sediments is complicated. The pitfalls mentioned call for a deliberate approach and set-up of such a process. Since European policymakers tend towards a higher appreciation of stakeholder involvement, it would be advisable to pay attention to those differences. Recommendations and Outlook. Apart from the recommendations given in this article, it is recommendable to carry out more empirical research into policy-processes regarding the management of sediments. To date, much research in this field has been of a theoretical nature, so that more empirical data is required.