the new regional focus

New Approaches, New Institutions?

A National Symposium

Federalism & Regionalism in Australia


The New Regional Focus• A ‘regional’ focus in policy across urban, rural and remote areas of

Australia relating to three core areas: environment (e.g. environmental protection and natural resource

management policy) economic (e.g. industry and employment policy) social (e.g. integrated service delivery)

• The long-term sustainability of regions depends on the functionality and health of the overall system of regional governance across these core areas

• To achieve sustainable development, policy responses in these core areas cannot be considered in isolation

• Emerging regional governance approaches are experiencing considerable challenges in practice

• Our knowledge of what works, what doesn’t, and if it works why, and how could it work better is limited


Focus of presentation• On priorities and prospects for regional governance research and

evaluation (with particular emphasis on sustainability)

• Decision making on regional governance for sustainability made by individuals, civil society, and the state involve questions of, e.g.: – efficiency– effectiveness– equity– political legitimacy

• These key questions are also integrative elements across a breadth of disciplines relevant to research on regional governance

• Decision making occurs within and is clearly influenced by the social, ‘cultural’, economic, environmental and political context in which the system of regional governance operates in practice

• Research on, &/or evaluation of, regional governance needs to be sensitive to this multi-dimensional context and to the multiple scales of relevance


Multiple levels of policy implementation (national, state, regional, local)

Involves a multiplicity of actors/agents Multiple perceptions of the problem(s) and the objectives of

policy implementation exist Multiple strategies and policy instruments A multi-resourced and multi-organisational basis for

implementation Incomplete scientific/technical knowledge to support

decision-making Varying levels of actor/agent understanding of options and

solutions Variable support from community and political leaders

Regional Governance: A complex system


System of Regional Governance

• Conceptually, system comprises a complex set of (often poorly) linked institutions and arrangements (formal and informal):

1. ‘horizontal’ between:– different actors (e.g. industry, community and

government)– different sectors (e.g. social, economic, environmental)

2. ‘vertical’ between:– functional levels (e.g. spheres of government)

• In practice, these arrangements may have competing objectives and interests and can evolve independently of each other over different timeframes

• A simple example of the complexity involved in practice – institutional arrangements for wetlands management in a wet tropics regional environment


Regional CoastalManagement PlanCMPA

Wet Tropics World Heritage Area

Freehold Land

Local Gov’t Boundary: IPA

Grazing Land, leasehold: LA

Environmentally Relevant Activity: EPA

Major Rock Wall:WRA, RITA

Voluntary Conservation Agreement: NCA

Wetland: Code of Practice for sustainable Cane Growing, Land Use Practices for Wet Tropical Floodplains, ICM & Landcare

Declared Fish Habitat Area: FA

Fish Habitat Code of Practice

Works in tidally affected areas: BPA

Bed/banks River: RITA, WRA

Marine Plants: FA

Recreation AreaManagement Act

Coastal Control District

Wetland: ICM

Voluntary Conservation Agreement: NCA

Sugar Cane: Sugar Industry Act, Sugar Industry Code of PracticeLand Use Practices for Wet Tropical Floodplains


New Governance Frameworks

• New generation of governance institutions emerging for resolving collective action problems in response to the need to address issues, e.g.:– Multidimensional and inequitable impacts– Technical uncertainty and ignorance– Evolving and conflicting values and priorities– Urgency– Mistrust

• Commonly based on public/private partnership models that reflect a global trend in devolving decision-making closer to its source or context


Emerging Partnership Approaches

• Participatory and discursive approaches designed to:– Promote deliberation about the problems that regional

communities and not only ‘technical experts’ see as important– Give greater status and respect to ‘grass roots’ or societal

knowledge– Foster deliberation about values, priorities and actions– Embrace new forms of knowledge and multiple sources of

information– Stimulate local innovation and emphasise principles and

processes rather than recipes and technological prescriptions– Support collaborative learning and adaptive institutions

• Challenge conventional thinking on success, failure and effectiveness of governance arrangements – and require a new approach to research and evaluation


The Research Challenge

• System of regional governance comprises numerous 'nested' discrete components/activities carried out concurrently across :

– a range of functional levels (e.g. national, state, regional, local)– a number of different dimensions (e.g. social, economic and environmental)

• Phenomenon at any one level are affected by:– other mechanisms at the same level– the level above– the level below

• At each ‘functional’ level:– Different problems exist– Different questions need to be asked– Different theories can be formulated

• Understanding the essential properties of this complex system comes from an understanding of how the components work collectively together – not from an examination of the parts themselves in isolation


Regional

body

Weeds / pests

Vegetation

Coastal

Water

Biodiversity

Local government

EconomicSocial Resource and environment

State agencies, local government, industry, NGOs, business managers and other individual decision makers



Functional level/scale

National

State

Regional

Regional NRM Planning (statutory and non-statutory

Local implementation

Constitutional and legal process

Statutory compliance

Policy matters (e.g.. public interest)

Program $s

Accountabilityetc

Devolution Feedback

Local program / policy decisions

Aggregate impact results

Engagement and involvement

Politicsetc

Regional Governance System – multiple lenses


Shift in research culture

• From academic ‘silos’ to complex systems thinking and adaptive management

• Traditional/collegial research may recognise the regional governance system as a set of 3 ‘domains of action’ but research based on:

– a single disciplinary or academic ‘silo’ approach

– quality control dominantly through peer review

• New inter- or trans-disciplinary research agendas emphasise:

– the dynamic interaction and interconnectedness of these domains

– emergent properties associated with these intersections

– quality control through social accountability and reflexivity and peer review

social

economic environment

Social

economic environment


Regional ‘knowledge production’ system Government &/or

government agencies

ResearchIndustry and community

Adapted from Leydesdorff et al. 1996


‘Triple helix model’ – knowledge production Government &/or

government agencies

ResearchIndustry and community

An emerging ‘network’ layer of relations

Adapted from Leydesdorff et al. 1996; 2006


The Triple Helix Thesis

• In contrast to a double helix (or co-evolution between two dynamics) a triple helix system is not expected to be stable– Environment is dynamic and evolving– Actors/players take on multiple roles– Possibility of rapid change in the configuration of relations and

unintended consequences

• Model developed mainly for studying the knowledge infrastructure in networks of relations (e.g. Leydesdorff 1997)

• Through the overlay of relations it is expected that networks and hybrid organisations among the helices emerge – which in turn will be in a state of transition

• Conceptually, the overlay that emerges from the interaction of the helices has the potential to integrate the complex system


Regional

body

Weeds / pests

Vegetation

Coastal

Water

Biodiversity

Local government


State agencies, local government, industry, NGOs, business managers and other individual decision makers



Functional level/scale

Federal

State

RegionalImplementation

Regional NRM Planning (statutory and non-statutory

Local implementation

Constitutional and legal process

Statutory compliance

Policy matters (e.g.. public interest)

Program $s

Accountabilityetc

Devolution Feedback

Local program / policy decisions

Aggregate impact results

Engagement and involvement

Politicsetc

Regional Governance System – multiple lenses


Framework for research and evaluation of regional governance?

??

????

An emerging ‘network’ layer of relations

Adapted from Leydesdorff et al. 1996; 2006


The future for regional governance research and evaluation?

• Decision making on the evolution of systems of regional governance involve multidimensional outcomes relating to: – efficiency (e.g. economic)– effectiveness (e.g. environmental & social outcomes)– equity (e.g. distributive justice, distributional consequences)– legitimacy (e.g. political – procedural justice and acceptability)

• Require new frameworks for research and evaluation that address concurrently and interactively:– institutions (structure and process)– context– scale– outcomes

as they are interdependent in reality

the new regional focus

Documents