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Polycentricity in practice: Marine governance transitions in Southeast Asia

Environmental governance systems are expanding in size and complexity as they become more integrated and ecosystem-based. In doing so, governance transitions often involve more actors and knowingly or unknowingly alter the autonomy of actors to make decisions, and thereby the ability of the governan...

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Main Authors:	Fortnam, M., Evans, L., Ayu, A. M. Amira Mas, Bastian, L., Chaigneau, T., Creencia, L., Goh, H. C., Gonzales, B., Madarcos, K., Maharja, C., Iqbal, M. Mohd, Le, T. Ngoc, Praptiwi, R. A., Sugardjito, J., Van Nguyen, Q., Syazana, W. M. A. Wan Nur
Format:	Article
Published:	Elsevier 2022
Subjects:	GE Environmental Sciences TH Building construction
Online Access:	http://eprints.um.edu.my/41121/
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spelling	my.um.eprints.411212023-09-07T03:14:35Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/41121/ Polycentricity in practice: Marine governance transitions in Southeast Asia Fortnam, M. Evans, L. Ayu, A. M. Amira Mas Bastian, L. Chaigneau, T. Creencia, L. Goh, H. C. Gonzales, B. Madarcos, K. Maharja, C. Iqbal, M. Mohd Le, T. Ngoc Praptiwi, R. A. Sugardjito, J. Van Nguyen, Q. Syazana, W. M. A. Wan Nur GE Environmental Sciences TH Building construction Environmental governance systems are expanding in size and complexity as they become more integrated and ecosystem-based. In doing so, governance transitions often involve more actors and knowingly or unknowingly alter the autonomy of actors to make decisions, and thereby the ability of the governance system to self-organise. In other words, these governance systems are becoming increasingly polycentric, moving towards an institutional structure that is reported to confer a number of benefits to social-ecological systems. This article adds to a growing body of evidence on polycentric environmental governance in practice. It adds nuance to the normative and apolitical portrayals of governance transitions in general, and transitions towards more polycentric forms of governance in particular. We analyse the relations amongst actors and historical development of four large-scale marine governance systems in Southeast Asia to understand how context, particularly power, shapes the emergence and evolution of polycentric marine governance in practice. Our data indicate that transitions towards increased polycentricity do increase diversity and autonomy of decision-making centres, which can enable more innovation or flexibility to respond to changing circumstances. However, these innovations do not always underpin sustainability and equity. Coordination mechanisms are critical for channelling the power dynamics that emerge among diverse actors towards sustainability. Yet, in these emergent, ad hoc polycentric governance arrangements such mechanisms remained nascent, ineffective, or inactive. The transaction costs involved in coordinating a semi-autonomous polycentric system are seemingly difficult to overcome in low- to middle-income contexts and need investment in resources and accountability mechanisms. Elsevier 2022-11 Article PeerReviewed Fortnam, M. and Evans, L. and Ayu, A. M. Amira Mas and Bastian, L. and Chaigneau, T. and Creencia, L. and Goh, H. C. and Gonzales, B. and Madarcos, K. and Maharja, C. and Iqbal, M. Mohd and Le, T. Ngoc and Praptiwi, R. A. and Sugardjito, J. and Van Nguyen, Q. and Syazana, W. M. A. Wan Nur (2022) Polycentricity in practice: Marine governance transitions in Southeast Asia. Environmental Science & Policy, 137. pp. 87-98. ISSN 1462-9011, DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.08.010 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.08.010>. 10.1016/j.envsci.2022.08.010
institution	Universiti Malaya
building	UM Library
collection	Institutional Repository
continent	Asia
country	Malaysia
content_provider	Universiti Malaya
content_source	UM Research Repository
url_provider	http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic	GE Environmental Sciences TH Building construction
spellingShingle	GE Environmental Sciences TH Building construction Fortnam, M. Evans, L. Ayu, A. M. Amira Mas Bastian, L. Chaigneau, T. Creencia, L. Goh, H. C. Gonzales, B. Madarcos, K. Maharja, C. Iqbal, M. Mohd Le, T. Ngoc Praptiwi, R. A. Sugardjito, J. Van Nguyen, Q. Syazana, W. M. A. Wan Nur Polycentricity in practice: Marine governance transitions in Southeast Asia
description	Environmental governance systems are expanding in size and complexity as they become more integrated and ecosystem-based. In doing so, governance transitions often involve more actors and knowingly or unknowingly alter the autonomy of actors to make decisions, and thereby the ability of the governance system to self-organise. In other words, these governance systems are becoming increasingly polycentric, moving towards an institutional structure that is reported to confer a number of benefits to social-ecological systems. This article adds to a growing body of evidence on polycentric environmental governance in practice. It adds nuance to the normative and apolitical portrayals of governance transitions in general, and transitions towards more polycentric forms of governance in particular. We analyse the relations amongst actors and historical development of four large-scale marine governance systems in Southeast Asia to understand how context, particularly power, shapes the emergence and evolution of polycentric marine governance in practice. Our data indicate that transitions towards increased polycentricity do increase diversity and autonomy of decision-making centres, which can enable more innovation or flexibility to respond to changing circumstances. However, these innovations do not always underpin sustainability and equity. Coordination mechanisms are critical for channelling the power dynamics that emerge among diverse actors towards sustainability. Yet, in these emergent, ad hoc polycentric governance arrangements such mechanisms remained nascent, ineffective, or inactive. The transaction costs involved in coordinating a semi-autonomous polycentric system are seemingly difficult to overcome in low- to middle-income contexts and need investment in resources and accountability mechanisms.
format	Article
author	Fortnam, M. Evans, L. Ayu, A. M. Amira Mas Bastian, L. Chaigneau, T. Creencia, L. Goh, H. C. Gonzales, B. Madarcos, K. Maharja, C. Iqbal, M. Mohd Le, T. Ngoc Praptiwi, R. A. Sugardjito, J. Van Nguyen, Q. Syazana, W. M. A. Wan Nur
author_facet	Fortnam, M. Evans, L. Ayu, A. M. Amira Mas Bastian, L. Chaigneau, T. Creencia, L. Goh, H. C. Gonzales, B. Madarcos, K. Maharja, C. Iqbal, M. Mohd Le, T. Ngoc Praptiwi, R. A. Sugardjito, J. Van Nguyen, Q. Syazana, W. M. A. Wan Nur
author_sort	Fortnam, M.
title	Polycentricity in practice: Marine governance transitions in Southeast Asia
title_short	Polycentricity in practice: Marine governance transitions in Southeast Asia
title_full	Polycentricity in practice: Marine governance transitions in Southeast Asia
title_fullStr	Polycentricity in practice: Marine governance transitions in Southeast Asia
title_full_unstemmed	Polycentricity in practice: Marine governance transitions in Southeast Asia
title_sort	polycentricity in practice: marine governance transitions in southeast asia
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2022
url	http://eprints.um.edu.my/41121/
_version_	1778161628557082624
score	13.211869

Polycentricity in practice: Marine governance transitions in Southeast Asia

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