Participation under a spell of instrumentalization? Reflections on action research in an entrenched climate adaptation policy process

Daan Boezemana*, Martinus Vinkb, Pieter Leroya & Willem Halffmanca Institute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlandsb Public Administration and Policy Group, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlandsc Institute of Science, Innovation and Society, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The NetherlandsDaan Boezeman is a PhD candidate at the Radboud University, the Netherlands. His research deals with knowledge production for climate adaptation in different science–policy interfaces, i.e. scientific advisory committees, regional water risk management and urban heat adaptation projects. His main research interests are science and technology studies, institutional perspectives and the role of ideas in the policy process. He has published articles in journals such as Ecological Economics, Environmental Science and Policy and Journal of Rural Studies.Martinus Vink is a PhD candidate in the field of public administration at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. In his research, he focuses on the role of framing and frame interactions in governance processes where actors puzzle over complex long-term policy issues, such as adaptation to climate change and water management. Previously, he worked on similar issues as a research fellow for the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). He has published articles in journals such as Environmental Science and Policy, Ecology and Society and Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis.Pieter Leroy is Professor of Political Sciences of the Environment at the Nijmegen School of Management, Radboud University, The Netherlands. His research focuses on institutional analysis in environmental policy, in particular, on the emergence and functioning of new policy arrangements, in a context of more encompassing societal and political changes. In addition, he focuses on topics such as public participation, the science–policy interface in the environmental domain and so on. He has published widely on environmental matters and new forms of knowledge production.Willem Halffman lectures at the Institute for Science, Innovation, and Society, at Radboud University, The Netherlands. He is an expert on science policy, in particular, on how experts advise public policy processes, and has studied experts at work in a variety of domains, including environmental hazards of chemicals in water, nature conservation, regional planning and fisheries. He has extensive experience in teaching and collaborating across disciplines.* Corresponding author. Email: d.boezeman@fm.ru.nlThe article discusses action research in a Dutch intergovernmental project group DV2050. That group was to assess the effects of climate change and soil subsidence on the regional water system and to propose adaptive policies to increase regional water safety. In this study, we draw a parallel between the stakeholder participation trajectory of DV2050 and our collaborative learning trajectory within the DV2050 project. In the academic literature, both participatory policy-making and action research are advocated for instrumental, normative and quality reasons. In our case, both trajectories took place in an entrenched context, i.e. a strongly institutionalized environment in which the involved governments compete for competencies. Despite broader ambitions stated at the beginning of these trajectories, we explain that both became instrumentalized by actors involved, narrowing their scope. Instrumentalization was influenced by powerful interests, a strongly institutionalized science–policy interface and the pressure of imminent decision-making.