Toward legitimate governance strategies for climate adaptation in the Netherlands: Combining insights from a legal, planning, and network perspective

Arwin van Buuren*, Peter Driessen, Geert Teisman, Marleen van Rijswick

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In general, the issue of climate change is characterized by uncertainty, complexity, and multifacetedness. In the Netherlands, climate change is in above highly controversial. These characteristics make it difficult to realize adaptation measures that are perceived as legitimate. In this article, we analyze the main difficulties and dilemmas with regard to the issue of legitimacy in the context of climate adaptation. We conceptualize legitimacy from a legal, a planning, and a network perspective and show how the concept of legitimacy evolves within these three perspectives. From a legal perspective, the focus is on the issues of good governance. From a planning perspective, the focus is on the flexibility, learning, and governance capacity. From a network perspective, issues of dialogue, involvement, and support are important. These perspectives bring in different criteria, which are not easy compatible. We describe and illustrate these legitimacy challenges using an in-depth study of the Dutch IJsseldelta Zuid case. From our case study, we conclude that, from a legitimacy perspective, the often acclaimed necessity to be adaptive and flexible is quite problematic. The same holds true for the plea to mainstream adaptation into other policy domains. In our case study, these strategies give rise to serious challenges in relation to good governance and consensus-two indispensable cornerstones of legitimacy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1021-1033
Number of pages13
JournalRegional Environmental Change
Volume14
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2014

Keywords

  • Climate adaptation
  • Governance strategies
  • Legal perspective
  • Legitimacy
  • Network perspective
  • Planning perspective

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