‘Holding up the mirror’ to Dutch water managers

1. ‘Holding up the mirror’ to Dutch water managers Or how to take part in the negotiation of a new water future Dr. Margo van den Brink / m.a.van.den.brink@rug.nl ‘So What? Why we need interpretive methods for water governance’ Workshop University of Sheffield, 31 March – 1 April 2011

3. About Rijkswaterstaat… The policy-implementing agency of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment Responsible for flood protection of the Netherlands Well known for its engineering knowledge and expertise 16/07/2014 | 3

5. On the horns of a dilemma On the one hand, Rijkswaterstaat needs its renowned expert status to fulfil its public responsibilities, such as the protection against floods On the other hand, it also needs to distance itself from this expert status to meet the increasing social and political imperative of developing into a more responsive and efficient public organisation 16/07/2014 | 5

6. A discursive approach 16/07/2014 Rijkswaterstaat’s transformation was accompanied by the introduction of a new policy language The aim was to gain insight in its search for and construction of a new organisational identity Post-structuralist discourse-theoretical perspective combined with insights from framing theory | 6

9. ‘Holding up the mirror’ 16/07/2014 Three subsequent steps: • Creating trustworthy interpretations • Writing a performative text – a ‘learning history’ • Taking part in the negotiation of meaning | 9

10. Step 1: Creating trustworthy interpretations 16/07/2014 Normative starting point: to help Rijkswaterstaat realise its public responsibilities (no contract research!) Role of the researcher: be as open and transparent as possible, focus on storytelling, advisory committee Methodology: Atlas.ti as a support tool to analyse framing processes (CAQDAS) | 10

13. Step 2: Writing a performative text 16/07/2014 Through constructing a ‘learning history’, important for organisational learning Through narrating and contextualising important events and developments Through explicitly paying attention to the politically sensitive nature of Rijkswaterstaat’s transformation | 13

14. Step 3: Taking part in the negotiation of meaning 16/07/2014 | 14 • Through interviews and by actively contributing to the (internal and external) public debate • Through presentations and guest lectures (workshops, interactive seminars)

17. Conclusions 16/07/2014 Discursive research can have impact on water governance! (exactly because of its focus on the social construction of meaning) It helps to bridge the current existing ontological and epistemological gap in flood risk management (the dilemma between technocracy and democracy) | 17

18. 16/07/2014 By creating trustworthy interpretations: by paying explicit attention to method and methodology By writing a performative text: by creating a ‘learning history’, thus facilitating a collective learning process And by taking part in the negotiation of meaning: by actively positioning oneself in the public debate | 18