New paper on the coherence(s) of institutional resource regimes

Coherence is pivotal to integrate governance and, presumably, to improve sustainability because of more coordination efficiency. The coherence of governance refers to the clarity and compatibility of public policies and property rights. But, in empirical studies, it remains unclear what coherence is.

In a new paper, Thomas Bolognesi and Géraldine Pflieger -- respectively scientific collaborator and professor within the Hub / Institute GEDT -- aim at clarifying coherence as a concept and at offering a reliable operationalization. They offer a typology of 8 forms of coherence and implement it using the case of Swiss water supply. The typology is based on how public policies and property rights interact, taking into consideration the vertical and horizontal dimensions of any governance design.

Their empirical findings are threefold: 1) incoherences among levels of governance are more problematic than among sectors, 2) major and unexpected incoherences occur between public policies and property rights, and 3) discrete coherence of each public policy and property rights is satisfying. They show that comparing and delineating different types of coherence allows for having an accurate identification likely governance failures.

This new paper, entitled "The coherence(s) of institutional resource regimes:Typology and assessments from the case of water supply management", has been published in the journal Environmental Science & Policy.