Governing for resilience: the role of institutional work

Raoul Beunen; James Patterson; Kristof Van Assche

doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2017.04.010

Governing for resilience: the role of institutional work

Raoul Beunen^*, James Patterson, Kristof Van Assche

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Resilience has become a key concept in the sciences and practices of environmental governance. Yet governing for resilience is a major challenge because it requires governance systems to be both stable and flexible at the same time. The concept of 'institutional work' is a promising lens for analysing the dynamic tension between stability and flexibility in governance systems. It refers to actions through which actors create, maintain, or disrupt institutions. The paper explains the concept of institutional work and shows how it usefully integrates several emerging lines of study regarding agency in governance. Overall, the concept of institutional work opens up novel opportunities for analysing the interactions between actors and institutional structures that produce stability and flexibility in governance systems.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	10-16
Number of pages	7
Journal	Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
Volume	28
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.04.010
Publication status	Published - Oct 2017

Keywords

SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
ADAPTIVE CAPACITY
WATER GOVERNANCE
CLIMATE-CHANGE
POLICY
ACTORS
TRANSITIONS
ADAPTATION
STRATEGIES
FRAMEWORK

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Beunen et al - Governing for resilienceAccepted author manuscript, 825 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

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title = "Governing for resilience: the role of institutional work",

abstract = "Resilience has become a key concept in the sciences and practices of environmental governance. Yet governing for resilience is a major challenge because it requires governance systems to be both stable and flexible at the same time. The concept of 'institutional work' is a promising lens for analysing the dynamic tension between stability and flexibility in governance systems. It refers to actions through which actors create, maintain, or disrupt institutions. The paper explains the concept of institutional work and shows how it usefully integrates several emerging lines of study regarding agency in governance. Overall, the concept of institutional work opens up novel opportunities for analysing the interactions between actors and institutional structures that produce stability and flexibility in governance systems.",

keywords = "SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, ADAPTIVE CAPACITY, WATER GOVERNANCE, CLIMATE-CHANGE, POLICY, ACTORS, TRANSITIONS, ADAPTATION, STRATEGIES, FRAMEWORK",

author = "Raoul Beunen and James Patterson and {Van Assche}, Kristof",

year = "2017",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1016/j.cosust.2017.04.010",

language = "English",

volume = "28",

pages = "10--16",

journal = "Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability",

issn = "1877-3435",

publisher = "ELSEVIER SCI LTD",

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T1 - Governing for resilience

T2 - the role of institutional work

AU - Beunen, Raoul

AU - Patterson, James

AU - Van Assche, Kristof

PY - 2017/10

Y1 - 2017/10

N2 - Resilience has become a key concept in the sciences and practices of environmental governance. Yet governing for resilience is a major challenge because it requires governance systems to be both stable and flexible at the same time. The concept of 'institutional work' is a promising lens for analysing the dynamic tension between stability and flexibility in governance systems. It refers to actions through which actors create, maintain, or disrupt institutions. The paper explains the concept of institutional work and shows how it usefully integrates several emerging lines of study regarding agency in governance. Overall, the concept of institutional work opens up novel opportunities for analysing the interactions between actors and institutional structures that produce stability and flexibility in governance systems.

AB - Resilience has become a key concept in the sciences and practices of environmental governance. Yet governing for resilience is a major challenge because it requires governance systems to be both stable and flexible at the same time. The concept of 'institutional work' is a promising lens for analysing the dynamic tension between stability and flexibility in governance systems. It refers to actions through which actors create, maintain, or disrupt institutions. The paper explains the concept of institutional work and shows how it usefully integrates several emerging lines of study regarding agency in governance. Overall, the concept of institutional work opens up novel opportunities for analysing the interactions between actors and institutional structures that produce stability and flexibility in governance systems.

KW - SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

KW - ADAPTIVE CAPACITY

KW - WATER GOVERNANCE

KW - CLIMATE-CHANGE

KW - POLICY

KW - ACTORS

KW - TRANSITIONS

KW - ADAPTATION

KW - STRATEGIES

KW - FRAMEWORK

U2 - 10.1016/j.cosust.2017.04.010

DO - 10.1016/j.cosust.2017.04.010

M3 - Article

SN - 1877-3435

VL - 28

SP - 10

EP - 16

JO - Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability

JF - Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability

ER -

Governing for resilience: the role of institutional work

Abstract

Keywords

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