Abstract
The Ecology of Games Framework (EGF) draws attention to the intertwined nature of different forums in a given policy setting and how this affects governance outcomes. In this article, we associate the EGF with the literature on power asymmetries, in order to investigate hypotheses of actors’ perceived level of influence in a forum. Focusing on the Paraíba do Sul river basin committee in Brazil, we specifically explore actors’ participation in multiple forums, time spent participating in the basin committee, and actors’ degree of involvement in the committee as factors that might explain actors’ level of perceived influence in the forum. The findings suggest participation in multiple forums is a key driver of perceived influence and thus highlight a way to challenge traditional power asymmetries. More research, however, is needed to determine to what extent perceived influence is affecting decision‐making processes and governance outcomes in the Paraíba do Sul river basin committee.
Highlights
Policy Studies Journal, 0:0Global North (Lubell, 2013), albeit with some recent exceptions (Berardo, Olivier, & Lavers, 2015)
This paper explores whether a stable institutional structure that has provided diverse stakeholders with opportunities to participate in a water-related governance forum over the course of more than two decades has potentially challenged the concentration of power that traditionally rests in the hands of government entities and large private water users—i.e., the holders of formal authority and of economic resources (Abers & Keck, 2006)
In an attempt to link the literature on power asymmetries in governance arrangements with recent work on the Ecology of Games Framework (EGF), we investigate whether a series of key factors related to participation, including participating in several different forums, may help explain which actors are considered influential by others
Summary
Policy Studies Journal, 0:0Global North (Lubell, 2013), albeit with some recent exceptions (Berardo, Olivier, & Lavers, 2015). In an attempt to link the literature on power asymmetries in governance arrangements with recent work on the EGF, we investigate whether a series of key factors related to participation, including participating in several different forums, may help explain which actors are considered influential by others. If influence is at least partly tied to participation strategies and to attributes of the actors themselves, actors should be able to utilize participation to become more influential This subsequently suggests that in a system where participation is a viable option for diverse actors to engage in decision making, power would not exclusively be in the hands of government entities and resource-rich private actors, as often assumed in the literature (Dahl, 1994; Furlong, 1997; Yackee & Yackee, 2006)
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