Regional Governance Arrangements Research Articles

Trajectories of Value Generation and Capturing by Public–Private Hybrids: Mechanisms of multi-level governance in healthcare

Our paper unpacks the multi-level process through which hybrids generate value in the long term. By combining interviews, archival and survey data, we examine the longitudinal trajectories of value generation of public–private hybrids (PPHs) established in the regionalized Italian healthcare system (1992–2018). We identify three ideal-type trajectories: (a) long-term value generation by stable PPHs; (b) long-term value generation by transient PPHs; and (c) interrupted value generation by terminated PPHs. We uncover how these trajectories are shaped by the interplay between regional governance arrangements – i.e. institutionally embedded norms regarding who is entitled to generate value for the field, the scope for organizational value capturing and the institutional monitoring system – and organizational governance mechanisms – i.e. the strategic orientation of individual PPHs and their internal monitoring functions. Our paper contributes to theory by conceptualizing the mechanism of ‘double filter’, which we define as the set of field- and organizational-level governance compensatory mechanisms that, together, allow long-term value generation by hybrids. We also problematize the relationship between hybrids’ value-generation capacities and the persistence of hybrid organizational forms, and ultimately trace it to different field governance arrangements. In so doing, we conceptualize ‘transient hybrids’ as a distinctive organizational form for long-term value generation.

Exploring the Role of Intermediaries in the Acceleration Stage of the Energy Transition: A Comparative Case Study of Two Local Energy Projects

AbstractTransition intermediaries are expected to play an important role in the acceleration stage of the energy transition. While existing scholarship helps us understand the role of transition intermediaries in the early stages of transitions, it remains unclear what role intermediation plays in subsequent transition stages, especially at the local level where the implementation of policies and legislation takes place. In this article, we aim to investigate how intermediation takes shape in the acceleration stage of the energy transition. Drawing on the literature on transition intermediaries and intermediation at the local level, we explore the role of transition intermediaries in two local energy projects in the Netherlands. Through extensive qualitative research, we find that various actors can act as transition intermediaries and that a single actor can fulfil different intermediary roles simultaneously. Our findings contribute to the literature on transition intermediation and urban intermediaries, emphasising the key role intermediaries play in aligning innovations with existing institutional configurations. Furthermore, we highlight their role in connecting the energy transition to broader societal developments, including through citizen involvement in local and regional governance arrangements.

ANALYSIS OF PARTICIPATORY-BASED VILLAGE MARKET DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS

This research aims to provide input on the arrangement of the Village Market. The research case study is the Village Market in Serang Regency, Banten Province. The locus was chosen because the Pamarayan Village Market crosses Serang Regency and Lebak Regency and has been running activities since independence. The research approach combines qualitative and quantitative. The research informants amounted to 15 people consisting of market traders associations, village market managers, Village-Owned Enterprises, RT/RW heads, youth leaders, and local community leaders. The main data used are primary data through Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The analysis technique used is MICMAC, by analyzing through a systematic solution to a problem. Research results show: First, based on existing conditions and analysis of Village Markets regulations, Pamarayan Market is a village market whose governance is under the authority of the village government. Second, based on the MICMAC analysis, the research results obtained in quadrant II, namely the relay variables including regional governance arrangements (zoning) of traditional markets, traditional market management (waste management and parking management), increasing trader competence, building revitalization, market trading facilities, and market financial management are seen to significantly affect the arrangement of the Pamarayan Market in Serang Regency. Third, the existence of Pamarayan Market is considered by stakeholders in the long term of around 3-6 years requires relocation due to the current conditions that harm the accumulation of waste, air and water pollution, and cause congestion. The relocation is expected to meet the location criteria: easy access to public/private vehicles, close to the highway, clean and comfortable location, and relatively cheap shop/trade location prices.

Where are the citizens? Unravelling the lopsided nature of stakeholder participation in the Dutch regional energy transition

In the process towards achieving renewable energy systems, national governments increasingly make use of regional governance arrangements that aim to translate (supra-)national commitments into actual policies at the local level. In this article, we investigate these regional energy transitions from the perspective of stakeholder participation. We clarify the notion of stakeholder participation by first distinguishing between citizens, and organisations from the three different institutional orders: state, market, and civil society. We argue that the extent to which the institutional actors are engaged in policy development critically affects the degree to which citizens can participate, also in later stages of the transition. We investigate stakeholder participation in the regional energy transition through a case study of the development of the Regional Energy Strategy (RES) in the Dutch region Zeeland. Using process tracing we describe the national guidelines on stakeholder participation, map the involvement of the different institutional orders within drafting the strategy and assess the role that has been assigned to the different stakeholders in the final strategy. Our case study reveals a dominance of actors representing the state and market and a relatively weak involvement of civil society associations in drafting the strategy. Citizens were not directly involved but were merely informed about the state of play. We attribute these results to the relatively open-ended guidelines that the national government gave as to the way stakeholder participation should have been organised in the RES and consider the implications of this for future designs of stakeholder participation in energy transition processes.

Regulating artificial intelligence: Proposal for a global solution

With increasing ubiquity of artificial intelligence (AI) in modern societies, individual countries and the international community are working hard to create an innovation-friendly, yet safe, regulatory environment. Adequate regulation is key to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks stemming from AI technologies. Developing regulatory frameworks is, however, challenging due to AI's global reach, agency problems present in regulation, and the existence of widespread misconceptions about the very notion of regulation. This paper makes three claims: (1) Based on interdisciplinary insights, we show that AI-related challenges cannot be tackled effectively without sincere international coordination supported by robust, consistent domestic, regional, and international governance arrangements. (2) Against this backdrop, we propose the establishment of an international AI governance framework to spearhead initiatives to create a consistent, global enabling regulatory environment, which is necessary for the successful and responsible adoption of AI technologies. To facilitate the practical implementation of our recommendation, we provide a simplified impact assessment on regulatory architecture and governance design options, appropriate to the scope of the paper. (3) We draw attention to communication challenges, which we believe are underestimated barriers hindering contemporary efforts to develop AI regulatory regimes. We argue that a fundamental change of mindset regarding the nature of regulation is necessary to remove these, and put forward some recommendations on how to achieve this.

Energy Transition in the Brazilian Electric Power System

This article summarizes key changes in market and regulatory governance arrangements in the electricity sector in Brazil over the last three decades. The Brazilian reform process during this period can be described as a series of attempts to move toward a market-driven system, interrupted by ad hoc interventions of a political nature or to respond to specific crises. This series of events reveals the pathway of a system that managed to significantly expand and diversify its electricity power mix by harnessing its renewable endowment. The historical role played by hydropower plants with reservoirs—along with a highly integrated electricity system—in smoothing production over time has been considerably diminished and will continue to be as climate change takes its toll. Thus, improvements in market and governance arrangements are required to promote a more diverse electricity mix, with variable renewable energy and demand management playing much more significant roles.

Regional informal institutions, local governance and gendered entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT This study investigates the impacts of regional informal institutions and local governance arrangements on the revenue growth of both male- and female-run firms in Vietnam. Utilizing institutional theory and the literature on feminism, we argue that male- and female-run firms are responsive to different sets of institutions. Analysing more than 1.1 million observations in 11 years (2006–16), we find that female-run firms benefit from collective action norms and non-finance-related governance forces, while male-run firms perform better under pro-entrepreneurship norms and finance-related governance forces.

Protection of drinking water resources from agricultural pressures: Effectiveness of EU regulations in the context of local realities

Over the last decades, nutrients and pesticides have proved to be a major source of the pollution of drinking water resources in Europe. Extensive legislation has been developed by the EU to protect drinking water resources from agricultural pollution, but the achievement of water quality objectives is still an ongoing challenge throughout Europe.The study aims to identify lessons that can be learnt about the coherence and consistency of the application of EU regulations, and their effects at the local level, using qualitative expert data for 13 local to regional governance arrangements in 11 different European countries.The results show that the complexities and inconsistencies of European legislation drawn up to protect drinking water resources from agricultural pollution come forward most explicitly at local level where cross-sectoral measures have to be taken and effects monitored. At this local level, rather than facilitate, they hamper efforts to achieve water quality objectives. The upcoming revision of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) should strengthen the links between the different directives and how they could be applied at local level.In addition, a more facilitated cross-sectoral approach should be adopted to improve stakeholder networks, between institutional levels and hydrological scales, to attain policy objectives at local level.

Spaces of regional governance: A periodisation approach

This paper discusses regional governance and the relationship between spaces of economic governance and notions of regional economy. The region’s prominence in state spatial strategy has run alongside tendencies for spatial reform in pursuit of optimum spatial articulation of economy. Ongoing spatial reform holds implications for structural interpretation, policy priority and intervention practice. To this extent, regional governance can be understood using a periodisation approach, a response framed through specific temporal arrangements influenced by preceding actions, approaches and outcomes. Such changes however do not occur in isolation of prior spatial iterations, presenting both regional demarcation and practice as a dynamic process. This process involves three concurrent episodes of structuring, casting and disruption, creating a periodisation framework. Focusing on the English region of Greater Birmingham and Solihull and its Southern Staffordshire sub-region, I discuss the evolution of regional governance arrangements and through these interpretation and reflection of regional economic structure. I argue periodisation occurs not in punctuated forms but as a dynamic and historically founded relationship influencing reform, appropriating policy, and selectively interpreting structure for organisational interest. These complex relationships create a form of tidal heating through which regions are in a state of constant flux.

A Governance Approach to Regional Energy Transition: Meaning, Conceptualization and Practice

Energy transition requires action from different levels of government. While the national and local level have received ample scholarly attention, thus far little attention has been paid to the regional level. This is remarkable because policy makers across Europe are wondering what governance of regional transition actually is and how to shape and implement it. In the present paper, this concern is addressed. The research questions are, “What does regional governance of energy transition entail? How can it be conceptualized? And what does it mean in practice?” The questions are answered by presenting the results of a multi-disciplinary literature study, presenting a conceptual framework on governance of regional energy transition, using insights from innovation and transition studies as well as from the regional and network governance literature, and applying this to the illustrative case of the West-Brabant region in The Netherlands. West-Brabant is a relatively large region and was home to a pilot that involved the development of a regional energy strategy. Data collection involved twenty expert interviews, text documents and participative observation in workshops. Results highlight the relevance of each of the key elements of the conceptual governance framework. However, some are particularly relevant like structural characteristics of the regional actor network, actor characteristics, and regional governance arrangements used. The results reveal commonalities with regional governance in other policy domains. This paper contributes to the literature on polycentric governance of energy transition and climate change mitigation, and concludes with the presentation of a research agenda.

Mutual Learning and Policy Transfer in Integrated Water Resources Management: A Research Agenda

Integrated water resources management (IWRM) has become a global paradigm for the governance of surface, coastal and groundwater. International bodies such as the European Union, the Global Water Partnership, and the United Nations have taken the lead to promote IWRM principles, while countries worldwide have undertaken reforms to implement these principles and to restructure their domestic or regional water governance arrangements. However, the international transfer of IWRM principles raises a number of theoretical, empirical and normative questions related to its causes, processes and outcomes. These questions will be explored in our Special Issue ‘Governing IWRM: Mutual Learning and Policy Transfer’. This editorial briefly introduces IWRM and links this governance paradigm to theoretical and empirical scholarship on policy transfer. We then summarise the aims and objectives of this Special Issue, provide an overview of the articles brought together here and offer avenues for future research.

From regional planning to port regionalization and urban logistics. The inland port and the governance of logistics development in the Paris region

Large urban regions are the main logistics markets. They concentrate warehouses, distribution centres and terminals in numerous logistics zones; they polarize thus regional, national and international flows. Some of these logistics facilities correspond to inland ports directly connected to seaport(s) with high capacity transport mean(s) either via rail, road or inland waterways. Their development results from the dynamic of port regionalization, which is characterised by seaports becoming integral parts of extensive hinterland networks, intermodal transport corridors and inland ports. Therefore, in city-regions, inland ports are part of larger logistics systems associating diverse logistics facilities and zones. The ways inland ports are governed, planned and owned must thus be understood in connection with the governance of the diverse logistics spaces at the metropolitan scale, including transport infrastructure and land use planning. Research has documented the very fragmented politics of logistics zones and the limited scope of spatial planning dedicated to logistics facilities and activities. The specific role and importance of the governance of inland ports within urban and regional governance arrangements framing and supporting logistics development is still unclear. In order to contribute to a systematic urban and regional approach of the connection between the governance of logistics development and the governance of inland ports in urban regions, the paper empirically analyses the inclusion of inland port spaces and institutions within Parisian metropolitan logistics strategies. Based on a qualitative methodology (policy documents and semi-structured interviews), it shows that inland port spaces and institutions take part in every metropolitan logistics policies. They constitute one of the few policy tools for both implementing regional planning and developing urban logistics sites in order to spatially (re)organize logistics facilities and activities. At the same time, inland port infrastructures are identified as strategic assets for a metropolitan agenda of economic competiveness, aiming at increasing port regionalization. In this perspective, inland port institutions contribute to the metropolitan governability vis-à-vis logistics issues but, finally, do not permit to regulate logistics sprawl.

Strategic cooperation for transnational adaptation: lessons from the economics of climate change mitigation

The literature on climate adaptation has so far conceptualized it as a domestic issue, to be governed somewhere between the local and the national scale. By contrast, scholars have shown little interest in exploring the case of cross-boundary adaptation spillovers, where adaptation by one country affects other countries. Two decades of the economic literature on climate mitigation may contribute to bridge this research gap because the problem structure of climate mitigation resembles that of adaptation with cross-boundary spillovers. With this in mind, we ask the following research question: Are there lessons to be learned by applying a mitigation perspective to the governance of adaptation with cross-boundary spillovers? After reviewing the relevant adaptation and mitigation literature, the paper applies mitigation insights to an adaptation case with cross-boundary spillovers: climate change-induced eutrophication in the Baltic Sea. Insights on coalition structures, side-payments, issue-linkage, and trade sanctions provide novel perspectives on the governance structures in place. To improve cooperation on providing adaptation as a public good, smaller regional governance arrangements could be more effective, European subsidies for pollution control might be redirected, and progress on eutrophication could be made a precondition for cooperation on other areas. These perspectives depart both from the way the Baltic Sea eutrophication problem is addressed at present, and from the way public goods are addressed in the adaptation literature. They show that some lessons can indeed be learned, calling for further research.

The global infrastructure public-private partnership and the extra-territorial politics of collective provision: The case of regional rail transit in Denver, USA

Drawing upon a case study of regional transit in Denver, Colorado, this article describes and accounts for the emergence of the global infrastructure public-private partnership (GIP3) as a novel extra-territorial mechanism for financing and delivering transportation infrastructure projects across large metropolitan regions in the United States (US). Unlike traditional locally-funded public-private partnerships, a GIP3 involves a global (i.e. extra-territorial) consortium of private sector construction firms and investors which enters into a long-term contract with a regional public agency to finance, operate, maintain and deliver strategic investments in transportation infrastructure. In 2004, Denver region voters approved a sales tax increase to fund the Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD)’s US$4.7 billion FasTracks programme, a 122-mile extension of light and commuter rail along six corridors. Faced with a shortfall in regional funding, the Denver RTD subsequently entered into a contract with a GIP3 consortium to finance and deliver the Eagle P3 project, a major component of the FasTracks system to Denver International Airport. The article argues that future research on GIP3 contractual agreements needs to consider the local control of infrastructure assets and the integrity of supporting regional collaborative governance arrangements.

Regional innovation governance and place-based policies: design, implementation and implications

ABSTRACTRegions need to tailor their own place-based policies because there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ regional innovation policy framework. Each region is characterized by different institutional capacities related to political, economic and social contexts enabling or constraining the design and implementation of place-based policies. This paper uses an instrumental-use multiple case study approach to explore the design and implementation of place-based policies within the institutional arrangements of four regional innovation agencies (RIAs) established in three different regional contexts inside and outside the European Union: one in the Brainport region (the Netherlands), two in the Basque Country (Spain) and one in Medellín (Colombia). In analyzing the RIAs’ similarities and differences, this paper explores the complexity of designing and implementing place-based innovation policies in different regional innovation systems (RISs) while noting important policy implications for regional innovation governance and institutional arrangements to upgrade RIS in a more systematic manner.

Regional governance arrangements of the Brazilian Unified National Health System: provider diversity and spacial inequality in service provision.

The study analyzes regional Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS, in Portuguese) governance arrangements according to providers' legal sphere and the spacial provision of middle and high-complexity services. These arrangements express the way in which State and health system reforms promoted the redistribution of functions between governmental and private entities in the territory. We carried out an exploratory study based on national-scope secondary data from 2015-2016. Using cluster analysis based on the composition of the provision percentages of the main providers, we classified 438 health regions. In middle-complexity health care, municipal public providers (outpatient) and private philanthropic providers (hospital) predominate. In high complexity provision, philanthropic and for-profit providers (outpatient and hospital) predominate. Middle-complexity provision was recorded in all health regions. However, in 12 states, more than half of the provision is concentrated in only one health region. High-complexity provision is concentrated in state capital regions. Governance arrangements may be more or less diverse and unequal, if different segments and regional concentration levels of middle and high-complexity provision are considered. The study suggests that the convergence between decentralization and mercantilization favored re-scaling of service provision, with increase in the scale of participation of private providers and strengthening of reference municipalities. Governance arrangement characteristics challenge SUS regionalization guided by the collective needs of the population.

Multilayered Governance and the International Financial Architecture: The Erosion of Multilateralism in International Liquidity Provision

AbstractWe analyze the ‘plurilateralization’ of global financial governance, defined as the proliferation of bilateral, regional and global governance arrangements, exploring how these have shaped international monetary and financial relations. We argue that the added layers of governance are the outgrowth of four factors: the demand for an international lender of last resort, the need to manage cross‐border financial and monetary policy spillovers, the desire for policy ownership and flexibility in an increasingly globalized world, and the confluence of bilateral liquidity provision policies with countries’ strategic foreign economic policy goals. Despite the desire to rationalize and streamline an increasingly complex international financial architecture, we argue that plurilateral governance is here to stay. We therefore offer some guidelines for living with this complexity.

Entangled in scales: multilevel governance challenges for regional planning strategies

The academic discourse considers the regional scale as an important planning level to provide for spatial objectives that transcend the boundaries of local authorities. Nonetheless, the problem-solving capacity of the regional planning level is still questioned by both academics and practitioners. This paper studies the tension between formal and informal regional governance and its practical challenges for two cases of Dutch provinces struggling with their position in regional governance networks. These cases entail pan-European development (Trans-European Transport Networks – TEN-T) and regional land development (Bloemendalerpolder). It was found that at the metropolitan scale, formal regional planning powers tend to overrule socially produced regional governance arrangements. Simultaneously, regional planning powers lack support of these socially produced arrangements for their interventions. At the same time, at the supra-regional scale, provinces are a logical stakeholder to fulfil a prominent role in regional governance, but often lack the institutional capacity to act as such. We therefore argue that regional planning authorities need to be granted the power and capacity to take up a more centripetal, intermediate role in governance arrangements. This would provide them more capacity to act in disentangling the difficult practical challenges of scalar problems that many regional governance arrangements currently face.

Governance arrangements for specialized assistance in health regions in Brazil

Abstract Objectives: to analyze the regional governance arrangements of specialized assistance in the Public Health System (SUS). Methods: Case studies were carried out which included seven health regions in the Brazilian territory, involving the secondary data systematization and 128 interviews with SUS leaders (2015 to 2016). The analysis was done in a comparative perspective, considering: public and private participation; assistance concentration; power relations and regional conflicts. Results: the public provision service and expenditure were high in the Medium Complexity and in the private, High Complexity. The main responsibility for the public provision service was in the cities so, that the specialized assistance was strongly concentrated in the pole cities. The level of influence from the providers in health decisions was high, and the offer considered to be insufficient and inadequate in relation to services and medical professionals. Conflicts were evident in the intergovernmental and public-private relations. Conclusions: the diversity of agents and arrangements - multilevel, hybrid and polarized - characterizes governance regionalization in SUS, which is conditioned by the scarcity and the inequality context in the distribution of services.

The politics of Arctic international cooperation: Introducing a dataset on stakeholder participation in Arctic Council meetings, 1998–2015

Contemporary Arctic transformations and their global causes and consequences have put international cooperation in the Arctic Council, the region’s most important forum for addressing Arctic affairs, at the forefront of research in Northern governance. With interest in Arctic regional affairs in world politics being at a historical high, the actual participation and contribution by interested actors to regional governance arrangements, such as the Arctic Council, has remained very much a blind spot. This article introduces and analyses a novel dataset on stakeholder participation in the Arctic Council (STAPAC) for all member states, Permanent Participants and observers in Ministerial, Senior Arctic Officials’ and subsidiary body meetings between 1998 and 2015. The article finds that participation in the Arctic Council varies significantly across meeting levels and type of actors, and that new admissions to the Council, a source of major contestation in recent debates, do not necessarily result in more actors attending. The article further discusses these findings in light of three prevalent debates in Arctic governance research, and shows the empirical relevance of the STAPAC dataset for the study of Arctic cooperation and conflict, observer involvement in the Arctic Council system and political representation of indigenous Permanent Participants.