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Prof. Kristof Van Assche
1. Earth and Atmospheric Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

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0 Development Studies
0 Environmental Policy
0 Governance
0 Innovation
0 Institutional Design

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Journal article
Published: 25 June 2021 in Politics and Governance
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Steering has negative connotations nowadays in many discussions on governance, policy, politics and planning. The associations with the modernist state project linger on. At the same time, a rethinking of what is possible by means of policy and planning, what is possible through governance, which forms of change and which pursuits of common goods still make sense, in an era of cynicism about steering yet also high steering expectations, seems eminently useful. Between laissez faire and blue-print planning are many paths which can be walked. In this thematic issue, we highlight the value of evolutionary understandings of governance and of governance in society, in order to grasp which self-transformations of governance systems are more likely than others and which governance tools and ideas stand a better chance than others in a particular context. We pay particular attention to Evolutionary Governance Theory (EGT) as a perspective on governance which delineates steering options as stemming from a set of co-evolutions in governance. Understanding steering options requires, for EGT, path mapping of unique governance paths, as well as context mapping, the external contexts relevant for the mode of reproduction of the governance system in case. A rethinking of steering in governance, through the lens of EGT, can shed a light on governance for innovation, sustainability transitions, new forms of participation and self-organization. For EGT, co-evolutions and dependencies, not only limit but also shape possibilities of steering, per path and per domain of governance and policy.

ACS Style

Raoul Beunen; Kristof Van Assche. Steering in Governance: Evolutionary Perspectives. Politics and Governance 2021, 9, 365 -368.

AMA Style

Raoul Beunen, Kristof Van Assche. Steering in Governance: Evolutionary Perspectives. Politics and Governance. 2021; 9 (2):365-368.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Raoul Beunen; Kristof Van Assche. 2021. "Steering in Governance: Evolutionary Perspectives." Politics and Governance 9, no. 2: 365-368.

Journal article
Published: 25 June 2021 in Politics and Governance
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We develop a perspective on steering in governance which understands steering as intended path creation. Inspired by evolutionary governance theory, critical management studies and social systems theory, we argue that steering is shaped and limited by co-evolutions, disallowing for any formulaic approach. In order to illuminate the space for steering in governance, we analyze the interplay between different dependencies. Those dependencies are not just obstacles to path creation, they can also be pointers and assets. The steering discussion is further complicated by always unique sets of couplings between a governance system and its environment. After introducing the ideas of reality effects and governance strategy, we further develop our concept of steering and present it as the management of dependencies (in governance) and reality effects (outside governance) towards path creation. This management is ideally strategic in nature and requires leadership in a new role.

ACS Style

Kristof Van Assche; Martijn Duineveld; Monica Gruezmacher; Raoul Beunen. Steering as Path Creation: Leadership and the Art of Managing Dependencies and Reality Effects. Politics and Governance 2021, 9, 369 -380.

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Martijn Duineveld, Monica Gruezmacher, Raoul Beunen. Steering as Path Creation: Leadership and the Art of Managing Dependencies and Reality Effects. Politics and Governance. 2021; 9 (2):369-380.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Martijn Duineveld; Monica Gruezmacher; Raoul Beunen. 2021. "Steering as Path Creation: Leadership and the Art of Managing Dependencies and Reality Effects." Politics and Governance 9, no. 2: 369-380.

Research article
Published: 11 June 2021 in Local Environment
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In this paper we link contemporary thinking on craft and craftsmanship to concepts in community development. Craft is contrasted with popular development dogmas such as innovation, planning and the knowledge economy. Our aim is to reimagine craft as a form of production linked to traditions of trade-craft and blue-collar work, yet open to blending with the creative economy and innovation agendas. While emphasising tradition, craft can be forward-looking, experimental, adaptive and a driving force in the creation of successful places. We illustrate the local development potential of craft in a series of short research vignettes involving vineyards, community forests and market gardens. Ultimately, this paper challenges an increasingly narrow and homogenous range of one-size-fits-all development discourses and governance practices. Our aim is to create space for a wider array of valuing and strategising about rural community development, supporting robust and secure relationships between local endeavours and participation within wider economic geographies.

ACS Style

Kevin E. Jones; Kristof Van Assche; John R. Parkins. Reimagining craft for community development. Local Environment 2021, 1 -13.

AMA Style

Kevin E. Jones, Kristof Van Assche, John R. Parkins. Reimagining craft for community development. Local Environment. 2021; ():1-13.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kevin E. Jones; Kristof Van Assche; John R. Parkins. 2021. "Reimagining craft for community development." Local Environment , no. : 1-13.

Editorial
Published: 13 May 2021 in Futures
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This special issue analyses and reflects on relations between long term perspectives and strategies in governance. While dismissing high modernist planning and acknowledging constraints to long-term policies, the different contributions in this volume, each in their own way, contend that strategy is necessary to face the challenges of our times. The fifteen articles highlight different aspects of the possibilities of and limits to strategy in governance, to turn long-term perspectives into strategy and strategy into reality. They all examine how long- term perspectives and issues are constituted by different governance practices and emerge in rather different policy contexts, which points to the need to better understand the diverse interplay between strategy, long-term perspectives and patterns of policy integration. Furthermore, the contributions emphasize how long-range governance requires careful attention to issues of temporality, the management of uncertainty and the interplay between the short term and the long term.

ACS Style

Kristof Van Assche; Gert Verschraegen; Monica Gruezmacher. Strategy for the long term: Pressures, counter-pressures and mechanisms in governance. Futures 2021, 131, 102758 .

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Gert Verschraegen, Monica Gruezmacher. Strategy for the long term: Pressures, counter-pressures and mechanisms in governance. Futures. 2021; 131 ():102758.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Gert Verschraegen; Monica Gruezmacher. 2021. "Strategy for the long term: Pressures, counter-pressures and mechanisms in governance." Futures 131, no. : 102758.

Journal article
Published: 31 March 2021 in Resources Policy
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We develop a novel perspective on the interplay between causes and effects of resource policy (and more generally development strategy) at local level. We do this by deploying a theoretical framework built around both psychoanalytic notions and concepts from governance theory to analyze the evolution and the construction of futures in the Canadian mining community of the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. It is argued that the growth and decline of mining created social identities and governance features which severely hamper the articulation of alternative futures. The case study highlights the importance of collective trauma, both stemming from rapid development and decline, in the understanding of fantasy as it plays out in evolving governance, the understanding of replayed scenarios of hope and disillusion. The case analysis contributes to the broader discussion of path dependencies in community development by multiplying the potential effects of key events in the development of the community, beyond effects on conscious collective memory, beyond institutional structures and processes. Freud's foundational idea of nachtragligkeit, the potential of events to steer development in a direction but also to resurface much later in the manner of symptoms limiting reflexivity and adaptation, is thus given a translation at community level, with special implications for resource communities and policies.

ACS Style

Kristof Van Assche; Monica Gruezmacher; Michael Granzow. From trauma to fantasy and policy. The past in the futures of mining communities; the case of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. Resources Policy 2021, 72, 102050 .

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Monica Gruezmacher, Michael Granzow. From trauma to fantasy and policy. The past in the futures of mining communities; the case of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. Resources Policy. 2021; 72 ():102050.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Monica Gruezmacher; Michael Granzow. 2021. "From trauma to fantasy and policy. The past in the futures of mining communities; the case of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta." Resources Policy 72, no. : 102050.

Journal article
Published: 22 February 2021 in Futures
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We investigate the nature and potential of strategy in governance and emphasize the importance of understanding strategy in its (potential) relations to long-term perspectives or narratives about the long term. Strategy is understood as both a narrative and an institution itself. Narratives about the long term, both inside and outside the sphere of governance, have to be mapped and acknowledged. This can inspire, in strategy formulation, a link to such existing perspectives or the production of a new one. Such strategy ought to be persuasive enough to coordinate action and create reality effects. We focus on strategy which aims to guide complex governance configurations associated with a set of actors, institutions and collective goals. The double nature of governance strategy enables it to coordinate other institutions and narratives, and from there, to coordinate, even integrate policy domains. That might be a sine qua non for dealing with long-term threats and the pursuit of public goods. The longest term might be the most relevant yet the least knowable and the most difficult to steer towards with existing governance tools. Nonetheless, evolving strategy, evolving assessment of linkages to long-term perspectives and possible forms of policy integration might be our best way forward.

ACS Style

Kristof Van Assche; Gert Verschraegen; Monica Gruezmacher. Strategy for collectives and common goods. Futures 2021, 128, 102716 .

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Gert Verschraegen, Monica Gruezmacher. Strategy for collectives and common goods. Futures. 2021; 128 ():102716.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Gert Verschraegen; Monica Gruezmacher. 2021. "Strategy for collectives and common goods." Futures 128, no. : 102716.

Journal article
Published: 22 February 2021 in Futures
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We draw on research in Western Newfoundland (Canada) to investigate the possibilities and limits of community reinvention, defined as radical change in the nature of the community, as perceived by local residents. Community reinvention is understood as an extreme form of strategic change in communities, one typically embraced under extreme circumstances. As such, reinvention offers a privileged vantage point on the utility of strategy to effectuate community change. We examine three communities in western Newfoundland, a region that has experienced a prolonged economic decline and is therefore keen on changing its development path. We coin the concept of reinvention paths to grasp the set of transformation options available to a community, a matrix that can be reconstructed through analysis of the governance path(s) of a community. The concept of reinvention paradox is devised to point out that envisioned strategic change amounting to reinvention is likely to significantly alter, and perhaps even ultimately undermine, that strategy by altering, if successful, the actors, perspectives, power relations and identities at play. This paradox will unfold over time and, it is argued, can be amenable to adaptive management.

ACS Style

Kristof Van Assche; Monica Gruezmacher; Kelly Vodden; Ryan Gibson; Leith Deacon. Reinvention paths and reinvention paradox: Strategic change in Western Newfoundland communities. Futures 2021, 128, 102713 .

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Monica Gruezmacher, Kelly Vodden, Ryan Gibson, Leith Deacon. Reinvention paths and reinvention paradox: Strategic change in Western Newfoundland communities. Futures. 2021; 128 ():102713.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Monica Gruezmacher; Kelly Vodden; Ryan Gibson; Leith Deacon. 2021. "Reinvention paths and reinvention paradox: Strategic change in Western Newfoundland communities." Futures 128, no. : 102713.

Journal article
Published: 10 February 2021 in Resources Policy
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We address the question why social identities associated with resource extraction can survive the extraction itself, a question which is highly relevant for devising strategies for economic diversification and community reinvention in many communities. The case of As Pontes, in Galicia, Spain, where a rural community transformed into a powerhouse of coal mining and electricity production, is highly instructive, as it reveals the importance of state planning and a central actor which structured social, political and economic life, and created identities which could not easily be dislodged. We deploy notions from Pierre Bourdieu's sociology of practice to analyze the persistence of identities and associated hopes for an impossible return to the past, giving central place to the idea of symbolic violence, i.e. the internalization of categories, identities and relations initially promoted by a coalition of actors benefiting from this order of the social field.

ACS Style

Xaquín S. Pérez-Sindín; Kristof Van Assche. “Coal [from Colombia] is our life”. Bourdieu, the miners (after they are miners) and resistance in As Pontes. Resources Policy 2021, 71, 102006 .

AMA Style

Xaquín S. Pérez-Sindín, Kristof Van Assche. “Coal [from Colombia] is our life”. Bourdieu, the miners (after they are miners) and resistance in As Pontes. Resources Policy. 2021; 71 ():102006.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Xaquín S. Pérez-Sindín; Kristof Van Assche. 2021. "“Coal [from Colombia] is our life”. Bourdieu, the miners (after they are miners) and resistance in As Pontes." Resources Policy 71, no. : 102006.

Research article
Published: 12 October 2020 in Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
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In this paper, we reflect on the evolution of place-based governance from a long-term (15 year) study of rural development initiatives undertaken in a region of Poland as part of its accession to the European Union. We decompose the recursive process of institutional learning arising from initiatives for heritage preservation and rural economic development. In our analysis, we elaborate a typology of unavoidable development dilemmas that must be explicitly managed in order to allow place-based governance to effectively harness the cultural value, social context, and developmental needs of certain locales or landscapes. Although creating and sustaining local value remain contingent on broader realities of governance, proactive management of these dilemmas can help prevent many of the usual contestations around goals and identity from becoming intractable in later periods. Our proposed approach to enabling place-based governance emphasizes conflict recognition and engagement as important complements to more common prescriptive models of governance.

ACS Style

Hart Nadav Feuer; Kristof Van Assche; Józef Hernik; Barbara Czesak; Renata Różycka-Czas. Evolution of place-based governance in the management of development dilemmas: long-term learning from Małopolska, Poland. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2020, 64, 1312 -1330.

AMA Style

Hart Nadav Feuer, Kristof Van Assche, Józef Hernik, Barbara Czesak, Renata Różycka-Czas. Evolution of place-based governance in the management of development dilemmas: long-term learning from Małopolska, Poland. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. 2020; 64 (8):1312-1330.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hart Nadav Feuer; Kristof Van Assche; Józef Hernik; Barbara Czesak; Renata Różycka-Czas. 2020. "Evolution of place-based governance in the management of development dilemmas: long-term learning from Małopolska, Poland." Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 64, no. 8: 1312-1330.

Journal article
Published: 29 July 2020 in The Extractive Industries and Society
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Focusing on the case of As Pontes, Spain, where coal mine production intensified rapidly in the 1970s through to the 1990s, we contribute to the literature on resource towns, and on boom and bust communities more generally. Here, mining was contested throughout the boom period, eroding the local economy and reducing social cohesion among residents. The effects of the subsequent bust were buffered by the Spanish welfare state, and by a power plant, which now imports coal, but still employed some locals. Despite As Pontes’ problematic past and present situation, which is marked by relative stability and prosperity, we still find deep nostalgia and community features usually observed in places where the boom provoked less resistance and the bust was more dramatic. A rigid ‘industrial’ identity started to structure governance post-mining; nostalgia for the ‘good’ times dominated. In our analysis of developments at As Pontes, we apply the concept of ‘concentration problem’, in an attempt to shed light on features of governance in resource towns and difficulties in local ‘reinvention’ mode, and develop the idea further by linking it to an erasure of infrastructures of memory.

ACS Style

Xoaquin Perez-Sindin; Kristof Van Assche. From coal not to ashes but to what? As Pontes, social memory and the concentration problem. The Extractive Industries and Society 2020, 7, 882 -891.

AMA Style

Xoaquin Perez-Sindin, Kristof Van Assche. From coal not to ashes but to what? As Pontes, social memory and the concentration problem. The Extractive Industries and Society. 2020; 7 (3):882-891.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Xoaquin Perez-Sindin; Kristof Van Assche. 2020. "From coal not to ashes but to what? As Pontes, social memory and the concentration problem." The Extractive Industries and Society 7, no. 3: 882-891.

Research article
Published: 16 July 2020 in Space and Culture
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Quarantine measures and the crises triggering them are never neutral in the sense that a return to the past is impossible. These measures are also a signal of other things like systemic risks and weaknesses. A period of quarantine is also a thing in and by itself. What happens after quarantine is thus shaped both by the state of the social-ecological system preceding quarantine and by what happened during quarantine. The selectivities introduced during quarantine span discursive, institutional and material realms. Old discourses can return with a new meaning. Social and economic relations can reappear seemingly unchanged, they can be more visibly altered and they can be dismantled. Ideologies, however, to be understood here as master discourses, read problems and solutions in their own way and do not necessarily come closer to each other or disappear. All this, offers food for thought regarding the possibilities and limits of resilience and transition. We argue that the current COVID- 19 pandemic casts doubt on the generic applicability of theories of resilience and transition, yet also sheds a new light on the value of both. We propose the concept of reinvention to describe what is happening and what could happen in a more coordinated fashion. We argue that the current crisis reveals mechanisms in systems dynamics that point at the existence of multiple pathways after dramatic system shocks. Some shocks and their system- specific responses (such as a particular kind of quarantine) are more amenable to resilience strategies afterwards, while others require a path of radical transition. They might also both be needed: a rather stark transition now might ensure future resilience. While the outline of the system after transition is not clear, some desirable features are clear as are the risks and damages of the current system. Also clear is the argument for transitional governance, a temporary governance system (beyond quarantine) which can enable the construction of new long term perspectives in governance and new governance tools meant to reduce chances of a crisis like this one reoccuring.

ACS Style

Kristof Van Assche; Martijn Duineveld; S. Jeff Birchall; Leith Deacon; Raoul Beunen; Monica Gruezmacher; Daan Boezeman. Resilience, Reinvention and Transition during and after Quarantine. Space and Culture 2020, 23, 230 -236.

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Martijn Duineveld, S. Jeff Birchall, Leith Deacon, Raoul Beunen, Monica Gruezmacher, Daan Boezeman. Resilience, Reinvention and Transition during and after Quarantine. Space and Culture. 2020; 23 (3):230-236.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Martijn Duineveld; S. Jeff Birchall; Leith Deacon; Raoul Beunen; Monica Gruezmacher; Daan Boezeman. 2020. "Resilience, Reinvention and Transition during and after Quarantine." Space and Culture 23, no. 3: 230-236.

Journal article
Published: 12 June 2020 in Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning
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ACS Style

Kristof Van Assche; Raoul Beunen; Monica Gruezmacher; Martijn Duineveld. Rethinking strategy in environmental governance. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 2020, 22, 695 -708.

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Raoul Beunen, Monica Gruezmacher, Martijn Duineveld. Rethinking strategy in environmental governance. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning. 2020; 22 (5):695-708.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Raoul Beunen; Monica Gruezmacher; Martijn Duineveld. 2020. "Rethinking strategy in environmental governance." Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 22, no. 5: 695-708.

Journal article
Published: 09 December 2019 in European Planning Studies
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ACS Style

Kristof Van Assche; Raoul Beunen; Eduardo Oliveira. Spatial planning and place branding: rethinking relations and synergies. European Planning Studies 2019, 28, 1274 -1290.

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Raoul Beunen, Eduardo Oliveira. Spatial planning and place branding: rethinking relations and synergies. European Planning Studies. 2019; 28 (7):1274-1290.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Raoul Beunen; Eduardo Oliveira. 2019. "Spatial planning and place branding: rethinking relations and synergies." European Planning Studies 28, no. 7: 1274-1290.

Journal article
Published: 09 December 2019 in European Planning Studies
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ACS Style

Kristof Van Assche; Raoul Beunen; Eduardo Oliveira. Rethinking planning-branding relations: an introduction. European Planning Studies 2019, 28, 1267 -1273.

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Raoul Beunen, Eduardo Oliveira. Rethinking planning-branding relations: an introduction. European Planning Studies. 2019; 28 (7):1267-1273.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Raoul Beunen; Eduardo Oliveira. 2019. "Rethinking planning-branding relations: an introduction." European Planning Studies 28, no. 7: 1267-1273.

Journal article
Published: 24 September 2019 in Technological and Economic Development of Economy
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The purpose of the article is to define the material, institutional, and intellectual infrastructure of a region and identify the innovative processes that determine its creation. Our main research hypothesis is that the processes that influence the creation of a region’s infrastructure determine a region’s competitiveness as well. To verify these premises, we conducted a study among the residents and employees of a municipality. The research employed deductive and inductive methods and a qualitative analysis was performed. Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient and factor analysis (inference based on the modal and median values) were used in the study. The research verified the hypothesis that innovative processes influence the creation of a region’s infrastructure and that innovative processes in the studied region exhibit low dynamics, which is caused by financial and psychosocial barriers. The important role of social leaders in municipalities was identified as well, above all as regards building civic society and social activity. The added value of the article is threefold: the developed model of infrastructure construction in the material, institutional, and intellectual dimensions of a region; recommendations for the investigated municipality; and a structured questionnaire that, together with the model, can be used for research in municipalities.

ACS Style

Magdalena Gorzelany-Dziadkowiec; Julia Gorzelany; Gintaras Stauskis; Józef Hernik; Kristof Van Assche; Tomasz Noszczyk. THE INNOVATION PROCESS IN LOCAL DEVELOPMENT – THE MATERIAL, INSTITUTIONAL, AND INTELLECTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE SHAPING AND SHAPED BY INNOVATION. Technological and Economic Development of Economy 2019, 25, 1232 -1258.

AMA Style

Magdalena Gorzelany-Dziadkowiec, Julia Gorzelany, Gintaras Stauskis, Józef Hernik, Kristof Van Assche, Tomasz Noszczyk. THE INNOVATION PROCESS IN LOCAL DEVELOPMENT – THE MATERIAL, INSTITUTIONAL, AND INTELLECTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE SHAPING AND SHAPED BY INNOVATION. Technological and Economic Development of Economy. 2019; 25 (6):1232-1258.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Magdalena Gorzelany-Dziadkowiec; Julia Gorzelany; Gintaras Stauskis; Józef Hernik; Kristof Van Assche; Tomasz Noszczyk. 2019. "THE INNOVATION PROCESS IN LOCAL DEVELOPMENT – THE MATERIAL, INSTITUTIONAL, AND INTELLECTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE SHAPING AND SHAPED BY INNOVATION." Technological and Economic Development of Economy 25, no. 6: 1232-1258.

Research paper
Published: 15 May 2019 in Systems Research and Behavioral Science
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The paper explores the implications of Ludwig von Bertalanffy's general systems theory for the current debates on the nature of organizational transparency as an element of good governance. If transparency implies the exchange of information, then it may be taken, at a metaphorical level, to constitute a dimension of metabolism theorized by Bertalanffy's open systems model. Yet, the model likewise lays bare some of the limits of transparency idea. Bertalanffy's work on the nature of emergent properties, his critique of the stimulus–response scheme, and his perspectivistic account of the systemic perception of the environment all point in the direction of the impossibility of full transparency. Later systems‐theoretic work on operational closure and self‐referentiality has reinforced and even radicalized these insights, which are shown to resonate with some of the key arguments in the contemporary economics, sociology of knowledge, and business ethics.

ACS Style

Vladislav Valentinov; Gert Verschraegen; Kristof Van Assche. The limits of transparency: A systems theory view. Systems Research and Behavioral Science 2019, 36, 289 -300.

AMA Style

Vladislav Valentinov, Gert Verschraegen, Kristof Van Assche. The limits of transparency: A systems theory view. Systems Research and Behavioral Science. 2019; 36 (3):289-300.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Vladislav Valentinov; Gert Verschraegen; Kristof Van Assche. 2019. "The limits of transparency: A systems theory view." Systems Research and Behavioral Science 36, no. 3: 289-300.

Articles
Published: 12 May 2019 in Critical Policy Studies
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We present a context-sensitive perspective on participation in rural development, revolving around the reconstruction of unique sets of differences between rhetorics and realities. Using a theoretical frame inspired by the Evolutionary Governance Theory, we identify mechanisms of reinterpretation and delimitation of participation in the context of evolving rural governance. Through a detailed case study of the Ethiopian agricultural extension system, we observed that various path dependencies, interdependencies, and goal dependencies in the extension system but notably also in the embedding system of rural governance limit and shape farmers’ participation. It is argued that the precise difference between official state rhetoric and on-the-ground realities of participation become understandable through reconstruction of embedding governance paths, and that the difference is further defined by relating it to the way other key concepts in rural development are implemented: decentralization, self-governance, and agricultural extension itself. Mapping out these coevolving rhetorics and realities gives insights in real reform options, for extension in particular and rural governance in general. Our case findings show that despite numerous reforms in the agricultural extension system and a steady increase in the extension coverage with a huge number of extension workers (Development Agents), participatory approaches largely failed to meet farmers’ needs.

ACS Style

Gerba Leta; Girma Kelboro; Kristof Van Assche; Till Stellmacher; Anna-Katharina Hornidge. Rhetorics and realities of participation: the Ethiopian agricultural extension system and its participatory turns. Critical Policy Studies 2019, 14, 388 -407.

AMA Style

Gerba Leta, Girma Kelboro, Kristof Van Assche, Till Stellmacher, Anna-Katharina Hornidge. Rhetorics and realities of participation: the Ethiopian agricultural extension system and its participatory turns. Critical Policy Studies. 2019; 14 (4):388-407.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gerba Leta; Girma Kelboro; Kristof Van Assche; Till Stellmacher; Anna-Katharina Hornidge. 2019. "Rhetorics and realities of participation: the Ethiopian agricultural extension system and its participatory turns." Critical Policy Studies 14, no. 4: 388-407.

Journal article
Published: 06 May 2019 in Systems Research and Behavioral Science
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Kristof Van Assche; Vladislav Valentinov; Gert Verschraegen. Ludwig von Bertalanffy and his enduring relevance: Celebrating 50 years General System Theory. Systems Research and Behavioral Science 2019, 36, 251 -254.

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Vladislav Valentinov, Gert Verschraegen. Ludwig von Bertalanffy and his enduring relevance: Celebrating 50 years General System Theory. Systems Research and Behavioral Science. 2019; 36 (3):251-254.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Vladislav Valentinov; Gert Verschraegen. 2019. "Ludwig von Bertalanffy and his enduring relevance: Celebrating 50 years General System Theory." Systems Research and Behavioral Science 36, no. 3: 251-254.

Research paper
Published: 24 April 2019 in Systems Research and Behavioral Science
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Based on biological insights, Ludwig von Bertalanffy coined general systems theory (GST) and later expanded his perspective, exploring what GST could mean for other disciplines and other types of systems. We make a case for the relevance, or rather, the importance, of GST for coming to a new understanding of the resilience of social‐ecological systems and the possible forms of adaptive governance that might increase such resilience. After analyzing the conceptual structure of the resilience paradigm and of GST, we identify concepts in resilience thinking where GST provides new confirmation or modifies the perspective: complexity, evolution, self‐organization, and adaptation. We discuss post‐Bertalanffy developments in the interdisciplinary and twinned fields of systems theory and complexity studies that can provide bridging concepts between GST and resilience thinking. In conclusion, we emphasize the need for both cognitive and institutional resilience to foster adaptive governance. We highlight the management of couplings between systems and the switching between forms of understanding and forms of organization, where self‐organization and more centralized forms of steering can alternate and combine.

ACS Style

Kristof Van Assche; Gert Verschraegen; Vladislav Valentinov; Monica Gruezmacher. The social, the ecological, and the adaptive. Von Bertalanffy's general systems theory and the adaptive governance of social-ecological systems. Systems Research and Behavioral Science 2019, 36, 308 -321.

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Gert Verschraegen, Vladislav Valentinov, Monica Gruezmacher. The social, the ecological, and the adaptive. Von Bertalanffy's general systems theory and the adaptive governance of social-ecological systems. Systems Research and Behavioral Science. 2019; 36 (3):308-321.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Gert Verschraegen; Vladislav Valentinov; Monica Gruezmacher. 2019. "The social, the ecological, and the adaptive. Von Bertalanffy's general systems theory and the adaptive governance of social-ecological systems." Systems Research and Behavioral Science 36, no. 3: 308-321.

Journal article
Published: 30 January 2019 in Marine Policy
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The conceptual framework of evolutionary governance theory (EGT) is deployed and extended to rethink the idea of coastal governance and the possibilities of a coastal governance better adapted to challenges of climate change and intensified use of both land and sea. ‘The coastal condition’ is analyzed as a situation where particular modes of observation and coordination were possible and necessary, and those observations (and derived calculations of risk and opportunity) are valuable for the governance of both land and an argument is constructed for a separate arena for coastal governance, without erasing the internal logic of pre-existing governance for land and sea. This entails that coastal governance is destined to be a place of (productive) conflict, as much as of policy integration. Policy integration will be more difficult and more important in coastal governance, as this is an arena where the effects of many land based activities and activities at sea become visible and entangled. Policy integration in coastal governance does however require deep knowledge of the governance path and existing forms of integration there (e.g. in planning), and it exists in an uneasy tension with the requirements of adaptive governance. This tension further contributes to the complexity and complex-prone character of coastal governance. Neither complexity nor conflict can be avoided, and coastal governance as an image of balanced decision- making is (positively) presented as a productive fiction.

ACS Style

Kristof Van Assche; Anna-Katharina Hornidge; Achim Schlüter; Natașa Vaidianu. Governance and the coastal condition: Towards new modes of observation, adaptation and integration. Marine Policy 2019, 112, 103413 .

AMA Style

Kristof Van Assche, Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Achim Schlüter, Natașa Vaidianu. Governance and the coastal condition: Towards new modes of observation, adaptation and integration. Marine Policy. 2019; 112 ():103413.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kristof Van Assche; Anna-Katharina Hornidge; Achim Schlüter; Natașa Vaidianu. 2019. "Governance and the coastal condition: Towards new modes of observation, adaptation and integration." Marine Policy 112, no. : 103413.