Abstract
We used Brazil as a Global South case study to analyze the evolution of the coastal governance in a young and still unstable democracy. Based on twenty-five years of documentation related to a federal-level actor interaction hub named Coastal Management Integration Group (GIGERCO) we explored the opportunity context for the transformation of the Brazilian coastal governance system using a Theory of Transformative Agency to identify five periods of evolution. The coastal governance system shifted from an exploitation to a conservation phase (periods 1 to 3), where an increasing number of actors were getting to know the system and each other’s interests turned into a moment of higher stability and resistance to change. The mobilization of social capital and higher heterogeneity of actors allowed novel strategies to emerge, generating opportunities for structural changes from a conservation towards a release phase (period 4). We argue that the recent political changes in Brazil caused a rupture in such a flourishing coastal governance process (period 5), which is now at a critical juncture that may unfold into one of three envisioned alternative scenarios: conservative regime, a new integrated and ecosystem-based regime, or a remanent of past regime properties. Our paper informs coastal governance processes across the world, highlighting the dynamic nature of the interplay between alternative institutional entrepreneurship strategies, opportunity contexts, and innovations in governance systems.
Highlights
IntroductionThe current institutional system to regulate and govern the coastal zone has not kept pace with the extent of social-ecological changes and requires an adaptation to innovate and fit the transformation needed [1,2]
We show that alternative scenarios for the evolution in the ocean governance system can be envisioned, the country’s institutional entrepreneurs should remain committed with the same basic set of strategies, skills and agency types that have been suggested before the on-going turmoil and crisis in the Brazilian democracy
Transformative Agency Theory (TTA) by highlighting the diversity of interpretations of the linkages between strategy, opportunity context, and innovation phase by exploring different scenarios associated to a system operating at a critical juncture
Summary
The current institutional system to regulate and govern the coastal zone has not kept pace with the extent of social-ecological changes and requires an adaptation to innovate and fit the transformation needed [1,2]. Novel approaches are called to address the current changes and the complex problems introduced by the human-environment interactions in the coastal zone (CZ) [9]. Due to the magnitude of the issues and their characteristics (i.e., no definitive formulation, high level of uncertainty, and abrupt changes), innovative approaches must include policies and processes that will transform an entire institutional, environmental, and social system where they are embedded [10,11]
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