Project Proliferation and Governance—Implications for Environmental Management

Over the past few decades the systems of governance have been transformed in response to supra-national as well as national demands. Consequently, the number of informal governance instruments has increased at all administrative levels. Among these instruments temporary project organizations are especially important, serving as informal mechanisms of horizontal as well as vertical co-ordination. Projects have become symbols of efficiency, innovation and adaptability. They are expected to be flexible instruments making it possible to cope with unforeseen situations but they are also expected to provide means of co-ordination and policy coherence. The potential consequences of project proliferation have received surprisingly limited attention in the extensive governance debate. The empirical data available to date is limited and there is a lack of conceptualizations concerning the relationship between permanent and temporary structures. This article scrutinizes the potential consequences of project proliferation. Especially in fields like environmental management, characterized by cross-sectoral and multi-level policy problems it is—according to this analysis—evident that an increasing temporality in public decision-making may challenge fundamental administrative values such as transparency and democratic accountability.