Boundary organisations and the Wadden Sea: What works when, where and how?

Abstract

Strategic issues, including political (mis)use of knowledge, selective production of knowledge and a misfit of demand for and supply of knowledge are often mentioned as problems in the interactions between science and policy. Scientific literature suggests science-policy interfaces as ‘solutions’. Boundary organisations are known to be organisations which provide such solutions by acting as a bridge between science and policy. In order to enhance the process of political decision-making, these organisations are supposed to enable a more effective use and production of knowledge in the often contested boundary area between the two domains, increasing its legitimacy and credibility. But how do these organisations work? In which situations is their added value needed? And how do they position themselves between the dynamic demand for and supply of knowledge? It appears that after presenting boundary organisations as the solution, literature comes to an end point due to the lack of empirical analysis and the often high level of abstraction literature uses to explain this type of interface. This paper will present a framework of the concept ‘boundary organisation’ where the focus will lie on the (participating) actors, the (presupposed) goals and their strategies. With the use of empirical research on three case studies of boundary organisations, the aim of the paper is to provide a better understating of the strategies by which the organisations aim to promote the selection, production and use of credible, legitimate and/or salient knowledge. The focus area of these organisations will be the Wadden Sea – a shallow estuarine sea where ecological interests compete with economic and social interests (such as gas mining, shipping and tourism), resulting in various problems with the interaction between science and policy.