TY - JOUR

T1 - Assessing participatory process‐system linkages in polycentric water governance

T2 - Insights from WFD implementation in Germany

AU - Schröder, Nadine Jenny Shirin

AU - Watson, Nigel

PY - 2025/3/31

Y1 - 2025/3/31

N2 - An important, although insufficiently answered, environmental governance research question concerns how exactly participation improves policy implementation at different scales. Numerous studies have highlighted important variables influencing the effectiveness of participatory processes. However, studies of participation tend to be strongly process‐oriented rather than system‐oriented and often overlook the reality that participatory processes are part of increasingly complex and broader decision‐making systems. By analyzing particular process‐system linkages, this paper contributes new knowledge regarding how participatory processes can influence decision‐making in polycentric governance systems. This study focuses on the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, which aims for good ecological and chemical status in all European waters, in six German states with varied polycentric decision‐making structures. No direct decision‐making power was found to be associated with any of the participatory processes themselves. Rather, the power remained embedded within the other established institutional structures. Nevertheless, the participatory processes did still intend to influence decision‐making within those established structures through the aggregation and multiplication of information. The findings show that only a few representatives or a small proportion of the total number of decision‐makers are involved in participatory processes. Therefore, those processes may either affect decisions directly due to the binding nature of the decisions taken within participatory processes or alternatively have effects through more complex and nuanced multiplication routes following the conclusion of each participatory process. Moreover, all of the participatory processes examined in this study were reliant to some extent on such multiplication mechanisms to amplify the effects on decisions throughout the overall polycentric governance system.

AB - An important, although insufficiently answered, environmental governance research question concerns how exactly participation improves policy implementation at different scales. Numerous studies have highlighted important variables influencing the effectiveness of participatory processes. However, studies of participation tend to be strongly process‐oriented rather than system‐oriented and often overlook the reality that participatory processes are part of increasingly complex and broader decision‐making systems. By analyzing particular process‐system linkages, this paper contributes new knowledge regarding how participatory processes can influence decision‐making in polycentric governance systems. This study focuses on the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, which aims for good ecological and chemical status in all European waters, in six German states with varied polycentric decision‐making structures. No direct decision‐making power was found to be associated with any of the participatory processes themselves. Rather, the power remained embedded within the other established institutional structures. Nevertheless, the participatory processes did still intend to influence decision‐making within those established structures through the aggregation and multiplication of information. The findings show that only a few representatives or a small proportion of the total number of decision‐makers are involved in participatory processes. Therefore, those processes may either affect decisions directly due to the binding nature of the decisions taken within participatory processes or alternatively have effects through more complex and nuanced multiplication routes following the conclusion of each participatory process. Moreover, all of the participatory processes examined in this study were reliant to some extent on such multiplication mechanisms to amplify the effects on decisions throughout the overall polycentric governance system.

KW - EU water framework directive

KW - 德国

KW - Alemania

KW - policentricidad

KW - participación

KW - 水治理

KW - 参与

KW - 《欧盟水框架指令》

KW - gobernanza del agua

KW - Germany

KW - participation

KW - water governance

KW - polycentricity

KW - directiva marco del agua de la UE

KW - 多中心性

U2 - 10.1111/ropr.12588

DO - 10.1111/ropr.12588

M3 - Journal article

VL - 42

SP - 310

EP - 345

JO - Review of Policy Research

JF - Review of Policy Research

SN - 1541-132X

IS - 2

ER -