Who is playing by whose rules? An exploration of governance through institutions and policy networks in Ghana’s flood risk management
| Titel: | Who is playing by whose rules? An exploration of governance through institutions and policy networks in Ghana’s flood risk management |
|---|---|
| Verfasser: | |
| Beteiligt: | ; |
| Körperschaft: |
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| Veröffentlicht: | Freiburg : Universität, 2025 |
| Umfang: | 1 Online-Ressource |
| Format: | E-Book |
| Sprache: | Englisch |
| Hochschulschrift: | Dissertation, Universität Freiburg, 2025 |
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alg: 53489462 001A $06000:06-11-25 001B $01999:08-11-25 $t00:14:40.000 001D $06000:06-11-25 001U $0utf8 001X $00 002@ $0Oax 002C $aText $btxt $2rdacontent 002D $aComputermedien $bc $2rdamedia 002E $aOnline-Ressource $bcr $2rdacarrier 003@ $0534894623 004P $010.6094/UNIFR/271709 004U $0urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-2717094 006G $01379945615 006U $025,O11 $f20251027 007A $01379945615 $aDNB 009Q $uhttps://doi.org/10.6094/UNIFR/271709 $xR 009Q $uhttps://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-2717094 $xR 009Q $qapplication/pdf $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $xH 010@ $aeng 010E $erda 011@ $a2025 $n2025 013D $RWissenschaftliche Literatur $#Dissertations, Academic $#Thèses et écrits académiques $74113937-9 $8Hochschulschrift [Ts1] $9085338818 021A $aWho is playing by whose rules? An exploration of governance through institutions and policy networks in Ghana’s flood risk management 028A $BVerfasser $#Ziga-Abortta, Fafali R. $#Abortta, Fafali R. Ziga- $#Abortta, Fafali Roy Ziga- $4aut $71267419121 $8Ziga-Abortta, Fafali Roy$Z1991- [Tp1] $949893182X 028C $BAkademischer Betreuer $#Kleinschmit, D. $4dgs $71148695249 $8Kleinschmit, Daniela$Z1973- [Tp3] $942396772X 028C $4rev $7129461458 $8Fünfgeld, Hartmut$Z1975- [Tp3] $9159786258 029F $BMitwirkender $RAlbert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg $#Professur für Forst- und Umweltpolitik $#Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Institut für Umweltsozialwissenschaften und Geographie, Professur für Forst- und Umweltpolitik $#University of Freiburg, Chair of Forest and Environmental Policy $#University of Freiburg, Chair Group of Forest and Environmental Policy $4ctb $71113598220 $8Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg$bProfessur für Forst- und Umweltpolitik [Tb3] $938691267X 029F $BGrad-verleihende Institution $RAlbert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg $RAlbert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg $#Fakultät für Umwelt und Natürliche Ressourcen $#Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources $#Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources $#UNR $4dgg $7103197220X $8Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg$bFakultät für Umwelt und Natürliche Ressourcen [Tb1] $9318618028 033A $pFreiburg $nUniversität 034D $a1 Online-Ressource 037C $dDissertation $eUniversität Freiburg $f2025 037I $uhttp://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/access_rights/c_abf2 $fUnrestricted online access 037J $aOpen Access $2star $uhttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 $fUnrestricted online access 044K $qDNB $RPolitische Steuerung $#Gouvernance $#Governance-Ansatz $#Governance $#Governance $emaschinell gebildet $74639012-1 $8Governance [Ts1] $9098783963 $k0,19688 044K $qDNB $RManagement $#Risk management $#Gestion du risque $#Gestión del riesgo $#Risikomanagement $#Risikomanagement $#Risikopolitik Management $#Risk Management $#Risiko-Management $#Unternehmenspolitik Risiko $#Risikosteuerung $emaschinell gebildet $74121590-4 $8Risikomanagement [Ts1] $9085393967 $k0,16791 044K $qDNB $RKolonie Goldküste $RTogoland $#Ghana $#Ghana $#Ghana $#Republic of Ghana $#Republik Ghana $emaschinell gebildet $74020949-0 $8Ghana [Tg1] $9085050903 $k0,34052 045E $c320 046X $aArchivierung/Langzeitarchivierung gewährleistet $5DE-101 047I $aAbstract: Ghana's devastating flood disaster of June 3, 2015, which claimed over 150 lives and caused millions of dollars in property damage, exemplifies how natural hazards become disasters when they overwhelm a society's capacity to cope. Seasonal floods continue to expose fundamental weaknesses in Ghana's flood risk governance system. The country also illustrates the complex challenges of flood risk governance in rapidly urbanizing Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). While the 2015 disaster catalyzed numerous policy responses and institutional reforms, recurring floods continue to challenge Ghana's major cities, suggesting deeper systemic issues in how governance arrangements shape vulnerability. Specifically, the June 2015 flood disaster and others like it highlight deep institutional vulnerabilities and ineffective governance which amplify physical exposure to create catastrophic outcomes with cascading effects for society. This persistence of flood impacts despite policy interventions raises critical questions about who is playing by whose rules in flood risk management (FRM), and how institutional contexts and policy networks impact the (in)effectiveness of flood risk governance outcomes.
This is where my dissertation comes in, with the aim to better understand how institutions and policy networks impact the (in)effectiveness of governance (in) shaping FRM outcomes in Ghana. Through four interconnected research questions (RQs), I examine how institutional contexts and policy networks jointly shape governance (in)effectiveness in Ghana's FRM system. My RQ1 investigates how networks govern FRM globally while RQ2 asks how institutional contexts foster or constrain FRM in Ghana. RQ3 then investigates what factors explain enforcement gaps in FRM, and RQ4 subsequently examines how policy networks influence FRM.
This dissertation employs a novel analytical framework that combines institutionalist and network perspectives to examine how governance (in)effectiveness emerges jointly from institutional contexts and policy networks. My analysis draws on a systematic literature review, semi-structured interviews, policy document analysis, and social network analysis to examine governance dynamics across global, national, sub-national, and network levels. The investigation carried out for each RQ culminated into a research paper, thus, Paper I provides a global synthesis of how networks govern FRM, Paper II analyzes institutional contexts shaping Ghana's FRM, Paper III examines enforcement gaps in Accra's land use governance, and Paper IV investigates how policy networks influence FRM.
My findings reveal key patterns in how institutional contexts and policy networks shape governance in FRM. In Paper I, my systematic review demonstrates how different network types contribute distinctly yet imperfectly to governance effectiveness: formal state-led networks enable coordinated action across scales but often struggle to incorporate local knowledge and context-specific needs; informal community-based networks foster local resilience through social capital but may lack resources and formal authority; while hybrid arrangements attempt to bridge these gaps but face challenges in balancing competing interests and power dynamics. Through Paper II, I uncover how institutional vulnerabilities emerge not merely as isolated weaknesses, but embedded in complex interactions between socio-cultural factors (like "flood risk adamancy"), socio-political dynamics (including the "culture of impunity"), legislative-regulatory frameworks (with overlapping mandates), and fiscal-economic constraints (affecting both household and national capacities), creating implementation challenges that ripple across governance levels. In Paper III, I demonstrate how enforcement gaps in Accra's land use governance stem from systematic misalignments between formal regulations (de jure) and informal practices (de facto), particularly where multiple, overlapping property rights regimes exist, revealing how choice rules, aggregation rules, and payoff rules interact with competing authority systems to create persistent implementation challenges. Finally, in Paper IV, I reveal how Ghana's FRM policy network, despite its relatively sparse structure (13% density), is resilient in the implementation of FRM governance projects through two key mechanisms: its capacity to accommodate diverse perspectives on problems and solutions while maintaining coordinated action, and the strategic positioning of influential actors like NADMO (National Disaster Management Organization) who serve as brokers between different stakeholder interpretations and interests.
My research makes three primary contributions to understanding flood risk governance in rapidly urbanizing contexts. First, I advance theoretical understanding of how governance effectiveness is likely to be shaped from the joint impact of institutional contexts and policy networks, demonstrating how formal and informal rules are operationalized through network relationships. Second, I reveal how enforcement gaps arise from misalignments between formal regulations and informal practices, through rules-in-use, particularly where traditional and statutory systems overlap. Third, I show how policy networks may facilitate effective governance despite, and sometimes because of, diverse perspectives on problems and solutions.
These insights have significant implications for both theory and practice. For theory, I demonstrate the importance of examining not just individual institutional weaknesses but the interactions between different institutional pillars in shaping governance outcomes. For practice, my findings suggest that enhancing flood risk governance effectiveness in rapidly urbanizing contexts in SSA and beyond requires approaches that can bridge formal frameworks with informal practices while fostering network relationships that enable coordinated action despite diverse perspectives. As climate change intensifies flood risks globally, such nuanced understanding of governance dynamics becomes increasingly vital for building resilient societies lok: 53489462 3 exp: 53489462 3 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.102 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046670 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 5 exp: 53489462 5 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.106 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046689 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 8 exp: 53489462 8 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.109 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046697 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 10 exp: 53489462 10 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.111 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046700 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 11 exp: 53489462 11 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.113 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046719 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 20 exp: 53489462 20 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.116 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046727 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 21 exp: 53489462 21 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.118 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046735 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 23 exp: 53489462 23 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.122 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046743 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 24 exp: 53489462 24 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.124 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046751 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 25 exp: 53489462 25 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.126 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $0132204676X 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 36 exp: 53489462 36 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.129 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046778 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 49 exp: 53489462 49 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.131 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046786 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 54 exp: 53489462 54 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.134 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046794 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 108 exp: 53489462 108 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.137 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046808 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 204 exp: 53489462 204 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.140 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046816 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH lok: 53489462 205 exp: 53489462 205 1 #EPN 201B/01 $008-11-25 $t00:14:40.143 201C/01 $007-11-25 201U/01 $0utf8 203@/01 $01322046824 208@/01 $a07-11-25 $bl 209S/01 $S0 $uhttps://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/271709 $XH
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| 520 | |a Abstract: Ghana's devastating flood disaster of June 3, 2015, which claimed over 150 lives and caused millions of dollars in property damage, exemplifies how natural hazards become disasters when they overwhelm a society's capacity to cope. Seasonal floods continue to expose fundamental weaknesses in Ghana's flood risk governance system. The country also illustrates the complex challenges of flood risk governance in rapidly urbanizing Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). While the 2015 disaster catalyzed numerous policy responses and institutional reforms, recurring floods continue to challenge Ghana's major cities, suggesting deeper systemic issues in how governance arrangements shape vulnerability. Specifically, the June 2015 flood disaster and others like it highlight deep institutional vulnerabilities and ineffective governance which amplify physical exposure to create catastrophic outcomes with cascading effects for society. This persistence of flood impacts despite policy interventions raises critical questions about who is playing by whose rules in flood risk management (FRM), and how institutional contexts and policy networks impact the (in)effectiveness of flood risk governance outcomes.<br><br>This is where my dissertation comes in, with the aim to better understand how institutions and policy networks impact the (in)effectiveness of governance (in) shaping FRM outcomes in Ghana. Through four interconnected research questions (RQs), I examine how institutional contexts and policy networks jointly shape governance (in)effectiveness in Ghana's FRM system. My RQ1 investigates how networks govern FRM globally while RQ2 asks how institutional contexts foster or constrain FRM in Ghana. RQ3 then investigates what factors explain enforcement gaps in FRM, and RQ4 subsequently examines how policy networks influence FRM.<br>This dissertation employs a novel analytical framework that combines institutionalist and network perspectives to examine how governance (in)effectiveness emerges jointly from institutional contexts and policy networks. My analysis draws on a systematic literature review, semi-structured interviews, policy document analysis, and social network analysis to examine governance dynamics across global, national, sub-national, and network levels. The investigation carried out for each RQ culminated into a research paper, thus, Paper I provides a global synthesis of how networks govern FRM, Paper II analyzes institutional contexts shaping Ghana's FRM, Paper III examines enforcement gaps in Accra's land use governance, and Paper IV investigates how policy networks influence FRM.<br><br>My findings reveal key patterns in how institutional contexts and policy networks shape governance in FRM. In Paper I, my systematic review demonstrates how different network types contribute distinctly yet imperfectly to governance effectiveness: formal state-led networks enable coordinated action across scales but often struggle to incorporate local knowledge and context-specific needs; informal community-based networks foster local resilience through social capital but may lack resources and formal authority; while hybrid arrangements attempt to bridge these gaps but face challenges in balancing competing interests and power dynamics. Through Paper II, I uncover how institutional vulnerabilities emerge not merely as isolated weaknesses, but embedded in complex interactions between socio-cultural factors (like "flood risk adamancy"), socio-political dynamics (including the "culture of impunity"), legislative-regulatory frameworks (with overlapping mandates), and fiscal-economic constraints (affecting both household and national capacities), creating implementation challenges that ripple across governance levels. In Paper III, I demonstrate how enforcement gaps in Accra's land use governance stem from systematic misalignments between formal regulations (de jure) and informal practices (de facto), particularly where multiple, overlapping property rights regimes exist, revealing how choice rules, aggregation rules, and payoff rules interact with competing authority systems to create persistent implementation challenges. Finally, in Paper IV, I reveal how Ghana's FRM policy network, despite its relatively sparse structure (13% density), is resilient in the implementation of FRM governance projects through two key mechanisms: its capacity to accommodate diverse perspectives on problems and solutions while maintaining coordinated action, and the strategic positioning of influential actors like NADMO (National Disaster Management Organization) who serve as brokers between different stakeholder interpretations and interests.<br>My research makes three primary contributions to understanding flood risk governance in rapidly urbanizing contexts. First, I advance theoretical understanding of how governance effectiveness is likely to be shaped from the joint impact of institutional contexts and policy networks, demonstrating how formal and informal rules are operationalized through network relationships. Second, I reveal how enforcement gaps arise from misalignments between formal regulations and informal practices, through rules-in-use, particularly where traditional and statutory systems overlap. Third, I show how policy networks may facilitate effective governance despite, and sometimes because of, diverse perspectives on problems and solutions.<br><br>These insights have significant implications for both theory and practice. For theory, I demonstrate the importance of examining not just individual institutional weaknesses but the interactions between different institutional pillars in shaping governance outcomes. For practice, my findings suggest that enhancing flood risk governance effectiveness in rapidly urbanizing contexts in SSA and beyond requires approaches that can bridge formal frameworks with informal practices while fostering network relationships that enable coordinated action despite diverse perspectives. As climate change intensifies flood risks globally, such nuanced understanding of governance dynamics becomes increasingly vital for building resilient societies | ||
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