Research article
Does problem complexity matter for environmental policy delivery? How public authorities address problems of water governance

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.02.068Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We study the impact of problem complexity on policy delivery in water management.

  • We analyse 37 water problems, combining qualitative and quantitative data sets.

  • There are predominantly negative relations between complexity and policy delivery.

  • Relations vary depending on dimensions of complexity and the policy cycle.

Abstract

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.

Introduction

Complexity is a notorious suspect to account for deficient environmental policy delivery. Researchers increasingly argue that environmental problems are exceptionally complex or ‘wicked’. This regards climate change adaptation and mitigation policies (e.g. Amelung and Funke, 2013, FritzGibbon and Mensah, 2012, Head, 2014) as well as the management of natural resources such as waters and soils (e.g. Cilliers et al., 2013, Metz and Ingold, 2014, Pahl-Wostl et al., 2012, Patterson et al., 2013, Termeer et al., 2015). Addressing these complexities appears a particularly challenging endeavour. In the field of water management, for instance, diffuse source pollution by nutrients and micro pollutants is hugely challenging given the diverse interconnections of socio-ecological systems, system dynamics and differing interests of stakeholders, just to name a few (Metz and Ingold, 2014, Pahl-Wostl, 2007, Patterson et al., 2013).

The claim that problem complexity hampers effective environmental policy delivery has, however, hardly been substantiated by empirical evidence. Claims on the effects of complexity mainly rest upon case studies, which are difficult to compare given incompatible understandings of ‘complexity’. This lack, however, hinders systematic, comparative analyses of governance for complex environmental problem solving. If we do not know how complexity effects environmental policy delivery, how can we suggest convincing strategies to address environmental problems in practice? Take, for instance, the often proposed strategy of participation to cope with complexity in decision-making (e.g. Head and Alford, 2013, Steyaert and Jiggins, 2007). This strategy would be far more convincing if it responded to evidence-based barriers to complex problem solving such as ignorance, inefficient, or symbolic policies of problem solvers.

Against this background, we empirically investigate the relationship between problem complexity and policy delivery by public authorities. Within this relationship, we trace the general impact of complexity and the impact of various dimensions of complexity on goals and actions to address problems. Our empirical data refer to 37 pollution-related problems of German water governance. These problems have been officially identified and defined by German water authorities as priority issues in implementing the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). In order to assess the complexity of these problems, we conducted 65 in-depth expert interviews with water managers and policy experts. Data on how problems were addressed were provided by relevant authorities in the course of legal reporting mechanisms. This research design constitutes a unique opportunity to comparatively assess the impact of problem complexity on policy delivery, keeping the overall context fairly constant.

Following this introduction, Section 2 details our conceptual and theoretical starting points. Drawing on literature on complex problem solving in psychology and public policy analysis, we present our multi-dimensional understanding of problem complexity and policy delivery, and discuss possible causal relationships between the two. Section 3 describes the studied water governance problems, the qualitative and quantitative data sources, and methods for data analysis. Section 4 presents our findings on problem complexity and policy delivery of the 37 water problems, and a statistical analysis of how they are related. Section 5 discusses the findings in the light of theoretical assumptions and applied methodologies, and outlines avenues for further research. Section 6 concludes on the findings of our study.

Section snippets

Problem complexity as a five-dimensional concept

Environmental problems can be more or less complex. In the field of water management, for instance, problems such as an integrated management or diffuse source pollution are reasonably described as highly complex problems (Metz and Ingold, 2014, Pahl-Wostl et al., 2012, Patterson et al., 2013). However, other problems such as the functional removal of migratory obstacles for fish seem rather simple to be addressed even though there may be conflicts between economical benefits and ecological

The empirical case of policy problems in German water governance

Our empirical analysis refers to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Germany (Directive 2000/60/EC). The WFD, a major regulation for water management in Europe, aims to achieve a good ecological and chemical status of European freshwaters. In its first management cycle, public authorities in all member states had to produce river basin management plans by 2009, which had to be implemented by 2015. In doing so, public authorities had to address various water-related pressures.

Complexity of problems

This sub-section briefly summarizes the results on the complexity degrees of the studied 37 water-related problems.

Fig. 2 graphically depicts the degrees of complexity of the five dimensions, averaged over the 37 problems. Overall, the problems exhibit medium degrees of complexity in all five dimensions. However, complexity assessments vary somewhat across the five dimensions, with lower values for informational uncertainty (median around 0.44) and higher

Discussion

Our analysis reveals a relative dominance of negative correlations between complexity and policy delivery, sporadic positive relations, and slight variations between dimensions of complexity and stages of implementation. This partly supports our hypotheses as detailed in Section 2.

Our first two hypotheses expected general negative (hypothesis 1) or positive relations (hypothesis 2) between problem complexity and policy delivery. Our predominantly negative correlations between complexity on the

Conclusion

Complexity is commonly understood as a hindrance to effective environmental policy delivery. This work has, first, sought to unravel this assumption by introducing different dimensions of complexity and policy delivery. Second, addressing the lack of systematic comparative research, we have empirically studied the relation between complexity and policy delivery drawing on 37 officially defined water policy problems in Germany. Our analysis finds predominantly negative relations between

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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