Abstract
Integrated maritime policies (IMPs) provide a comprehensive governance framework to support the sustainable use of the seas and oceans while ensuring a horizon of prosperity for the population of the surrounding coastal regions. This paper focuses on how IMP governance can be arranged to support more effective policy integration. We identify and discuss a number of key strategic and institutional issues which are expected to promote more effective policy integration in IMP development and implementation. First, vision statements of IMPs are scrutinised using the triple bottom line framework and by analysing the process of stakeholder involvement and related public disclosure. Second, we introduce the vision-down plans-up approach on stakeholder participation and management in IMP development to overcome the limitations of the widely used bottom-up and top-down approaches in policy formulation. Third, we analyse the tension between policy convergence and regional embeddedness in national IMPs. We argue that policy convergence does not and should not exclude regional embeddedness. Finally, we study IMP governance changes under the dual lens of time frame and institutional plasticity. The findings provide recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders on key strategic and institutional considerations which should enhance effective policy integration during the formulation and implementation of a national IMP.
Highlights
We illustrate the role of regional embeddedness in Integrated maritime policies (IMPs) development and implementation by demonstrating how the concepts of hard and soft sustainability resonate through the presented sub-categories of regional embeddedness
Whereas we acknowledge that it is easier to perform such a task in a polycentric framework [70], we argue that shaping governance through our previously developed lens of regional embeddedness will allow policymakers to increase the resilience of their governance framework
Integrated maritime policies (IMPs) provide a comprehensive governance framework to support the sustainable use of seas and oceans while ensuring a horizon of prosperity for the population of the surrounding coastal regions
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. After many years of compartmentalisation of maritime domains, policymakers have left behind traditional governance frameworks by developing national integrated maritime policies (IMPs) for the sustainable use of oceans and seas [5]. This paper focuses on sustainable sea governance in the context of cross-cutting sectoral policy integration through IMP development and implementation. Such policy integration can prove to be very difficult as policy areas often operate in isolation from each other according to their own dogmas, values, and traditions. The presented research outcomes provide guidance to policymakers and stakeholders on key strategic and institutional considerations that should enhance effective policy integration during the formulation and implementation of a national IMP. The purpose of referring to the empirical cases is illustrative in nature
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