Public Orchestration, Social Networks, and Transnational Environmental Governance: Lessons from the Aviation Industry

Lasse Folke Henriksen*, Stefano Ponte

*Corresponding author for this work

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    Abstract

    This article contributes to current debates on the potential and limitations of transnational environmental governance, addressing in particular the issue of how private and public regulation compete and/or reinforce each other - and with what results. One of the most influential approaches to emerge in recent years has been that of "orchestration." But while recent discussions have focused on a narrow interpretation of orchestration as intermediation, we argue that there is analytical traction in studying orchestration as a combination of directive and facilitative tools. We also argue that a social network analytical perspective on orchestration can improve our understanding of how governments and international organizations can shape transnational environmental governance. Through a case study of aviation, we provide two contributions to these debates: first, we propose four analytical factors that facilitate the possible emergence of orchestration (issue visibility, interest alignment, issue scope, and regulatory fragmentation and uncertainty); and second, we argue that orchestrators are more likely to succeed when they employ two strategies: (i) they use a combination of directive and facilitative instruments, including the provision of feasible incentives for industry actors to change their behavior, backed up by regulation or a credible regulatory threat; and (ii) they are robustly embedded in, and involved in the formation of, the relevant transnational networks of actors and institutions that provide the infrastructure of governance.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalRegulation and Governance
    Volume12
    Issue number1
    Pages (from-to)23-45
    Number of pages23
    ISSN1748-5983
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Mar 2018

    Bibliographical note

    Published online: 9. July 2017

    Keywords

    • Aviation
    • Biofuels
    • Orchestration
    • Social networks
    • Transnational environmental governance

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