Cross-sectoral Institutions in Climate Change Adaptation: A Two-Mode Network Approach

This paper assesses how the institutional frame, conceptualized as a two mode network of laws and instruments, constraints or empowers adaptive capacities to climate change. Adaptive governance structures buffer the effect of climate-related extreme events and disasters and, therefore, crucially determine vulnerability to climatic changes. To assess the political system’s ability meet adaptation demands in form of anticipatory and integrated policy responses, this study addresses the question: How integrated are climate change adaptation policies across sectors? While there is an important body of literature on political networks claiming the importance of interactions among actors of different levels, policy sectors, or private and public spheres, research has paid less attention to the question of institutional integration. However, overcoming sectoral boundaries is challenging if the institutional framework is compartmentalized into isolated sectors. The present study complements research on actor networks by shifting focus on institutional networks. The integration of formal institutions is a crucial condition to promote exchanges between diverse actors, and thereby enhance resilience towards climate change. In order to study adaptive capacities, the present research focuses on the institutional context in flood protection by means of two-mode networks of laws and instruments. The institutional frame of flood protection is inherently cross-sectoral, which concerns policy fields as diverse as spatial planning, forest, water protection, construction, or climate change mitigation policies. Policies adopted in all these fields form a complex mix of norms, rules, and procedures. This study captures the entire institutional structure by conceptualizing flood protection polices as a two-mode network of laws (on the first mode) and policy instruments that are formulated in the laws (on the second mode). Thereby, the study creates a complex network of interlinked laws and instruments which frame the possibilities for flood protection on the ground. Data is obtained by means of a content analysis and text-coding of flood-related policies in Switzerland ─ a country that is projected to suffer particularly from climate change-induced floods. Analyzing patterns embedded within the two-mode network of policies and instruments is important in order to identify potential redundancies or conflicts in institutional interaction and integration. While structural wholes may hamper adaptation capacities, bridges may help at integrating diverse policy fields and thereby strengthen resilience. Findings contribute knowledge to the research that considers the institutional setting as an important enabling factor for creating resilience, and by inference, reducing vulnerability to climate change.