International Sustainability Agreements: Are They Politically Influential for Tourism Governance Innovations?

Abstract

Political decision makers have significant roles to play in supporting or undermining the sustainability of tourism development nationally. To investigate their contributions to governance innovations, this article suggests a meta-conceptualization of governance in the form of Societal Hardwares (institutions/laws/strategies/policies) interacting with Societal Processes (psychological/policy oriented/political/social/economic/organizational). This article addresses a question that has not received so far any scholarly attention, namely whether the international sustainability agreements concluded in Rio de Janeiro (1992) and Johannesburg (2002) have generated meaningful innovations in the governance of national tourism sectors, able to facilitate their sustainable development. Drawing on sociopsychology literature, this article proposes to differentiate among three groups of mechanisms that may influence the decision-making patterns and outcomes of political actors: Persuasion, Constraining, and Enabling Mechanisms. The research question is investigated empirically by means of the case study approach, looking at the political implementation processes by Parliament and Government in the Netherlands. The challenge for governance innovation addressed is that of horizontal policy integration across four policy domains: environmental protection, nature conservation, recreation, and tourism. The international agreements are assessed as having the effect of Persuasion Mechanisms on both political decision makers. Content-wise they were politically influential for Parliament but not for Government, who failed to adopt adequate governance innovations.