Cross-sector collaboration within Dutch flood risk governance: historical analysis of external triggers
Emma Avoyan, Sander Meijerink
Abstract
This article synthesizes the literature on Dutch flood risk governance to analyze how external conditions shaped past and present dynamics of cross-sector collaboration for integrated flood risk management in the Netherlands. It traces the extent to which policy and legal frameworks, socio-economic circumstances, political realities, power relations and conflict situations have influenced attempts at collaboration between flood safety, spatial planning, environmental protection and other sectors. Despite the growing interdependences, existing power relations between the sectors are characterized by the dominance of the water sector. Hence, cross-sector collaboration can develop as long as it does not compromise flood safety.