Lab
Jens Newig's Lab
Institution: Leuphana University of Lüneburg
Department: Institute of Sustainability Governance
About the lab
Research Group Governance, Participation and Sustainability
Featured research (37)
Environmental governance research (EGR) has been criticized for not being cumulative, despite the importance of cumulative knowledge for evidence-informed decision-making in addressing global sustainability problems. However, defining, measuring, and assessing knowledge cumulation in EGR remain challenging. This study presents a systematic effort to address this challenge. Next to conceptualizing knowledge cumulation, we developed metrics to gauge the potential of EGR for knowledge cumulation on the levels of individual articles and scientific community. We applied those metrics to the "Earth System Governance" (ESG) research community within the field of EGR and analyzed its body of research through publications emerging from the first seven ESG conferences, resulting in 362 journal articles. Employing a comprehensive coding scheme, we further analyzed a random sample of 100 of those articles. Our findings suggest limited potentials for knowledge cumulation within ESG research. At the community level, we found a diverse journal landscape, a core-periphery structure in citation networks and co-authorship patterns, heterogeneous research questions, and only a few shared reference works, concepts, frameworks, and variables. At the article level, we observed few literature reviews, little data sharing, infrequent application of theories and frameworks, a shortage of clear definitions, and insufficient reflection on limitations. Moreover, we found that midsized author teams advance the knowledge cumulation potential. The ESG community aligns with Whitley's notion of a "fragmented adhocracy" characterized by diverse but disjointed research efforts, which still may foster interdisciplinary exchange. Our suggested conceptualizations, metrics, and results lay the foundation for future comparative and in-depth research on cumulating knowledge.
Participation processes (PPs) are often promoted as tools to improve public policymaking, yet their causal impact on policy decisions remains inconsistent. Existing research on policy impact has faced criticism for lacking methodological rigor, transparency, and comparability, impeding knowledge cumulation. This paper addresses these gaps by providing methodological guidance for assessing the causal impact of PPs on collective decisions in public policy and administration. Drawing on established theories of causality and (Bayesian) process tracing, we introduce a counterfactual approach that asks whether a decision would have occurred without the PP. We outline fundamental principles and practical steps for delineating, and operationalizing key concepts, assessing the strength of evidence, and addressing uncertainties. An exemplary application to the Berlin Climate Citizens’ Assembly reveals that only a small share of its proposals influenced policy decisions. The few impactful proposals support theories that deliberative mini-publics can drive policy change by encouraging policymakers, enriching policies, and breaking deadlocks. However, many proposals had no impact due to overlapping with existing or planned policies, exposing inefficiencies in mini-public design. Involving policymakers in mini-publics might enhance their impact on policy decisions but could compromise their independence.
It is necessary to consider the contextual factors surrounding water governance systems to understand their performance. We conducted a review of 165 empirical studies and 223 cases from the water governance literature to investigate water-related contexts. Our analysis is based on an archetype analysis of three dimensions of water-related contexts across 160 cases: water resources, related water uses, and sustainability issues. Our results show that there are five distinct water-related problématiques: "groundwater exploitation in agriculture," "land and water systems sustainability," "surface water pollution," "industrial and household water security," and "hydropower vs. water ecology." These problématiques often exhibit geographical patterns and regional associations. Noteworthy insights from the analysis of problématiques include the prominence of the groundwater exploitation in agriculture problématique, contrary to arguments that groundwater is understudied, and the limited coverage of hydropower governance compared to other problématiques. Overall, our results enhance the understanding of contextual factors in water governance and suggest potential avenues for developing middle-range theories and advancing water governance diagnostics.
Governance is key to ensuring the sustainability of water systems in the long run. With the recognition of the complexities inherent in governing water resources, new and diverse governance models have started to emerge and be diffused to various contexts. This systematic review explores 223 cases from 165 studies on water governance and sustainability. We assess the cases based on water governance paradigms and how these paradigms relate to governance characteristics, water‐related problématiques, and sustainability outcomes. Our results indicate a lack of knowledge cumulation and patterns connecting problématiques (e.g., “groundwater exploitation in agriculture”) and paradigms (e.g., “community‐based management”). We found that the “integrated approach to water management” was the most common paradigm, and paradigms might manifest with various governance characteristics, some of which may not fully align with the paradigm's fundamental principles. While certain paradigms, such as “integrated approach to water management,” “participatory and collaborative governance,” and “community‐based management,” are mostly associated with better sustainability outcomes, these successes should be interpreted cautiously due to the context‐sensitive nature of paradigms and potential biases in the reviewed studies. These findings provide a basis for further diagnostic work and suggest the need for more nuanced approaches to water governance and sustainability.
Moderne Umwelt- und Nachhaltigkeitsprobleme gelten als komplex und von Unsicherheit und gesellschaftlichen Werte- und Verteilungskonflikten geprägt. Eine hierarchische Steuerung durch den Staat reicht für den effektiven und legitimen Umgang mit solchen Problemen nicht aus. Umwelt-Governance berücksichtigt
daher sämtliche Formen der Regelung gesellschaftlicher Mensch-
Umwelt-Interaktionen durch kollektives Handeln. Der Beitrag führt in den Governance-Diskurs ein, stellt zentrale Ansätze der Umwelt-Governance vor und diskutiert Partizipation als ein Grundprinzip neuer Umweltgovernance-Modi.