Qualitative expert judgement of the effectiveness of Flemish water quality policy.

In the call for proposals, questions are asked on the effectivity of Flemish water quality policy. Are we reaching the goals and do we do that by using the right means (instruments)? What about the goal-means ratio: do we work sufficiently efficient with our scarce resources? And behind these questions, there is a concern: how will we keep paying, in times of budgetary constraints, the (expensive) bill of water quality policy?This research project aims to make a first exploration of the effectivity of the government policy as implemented, by gathering existing information about policy effectiveness and interviewing experts (from the government and from academia). This first exploration is important as input for and in preparation of the societal debate that the Coordination Commission on Integrated Water Policy will organize in cooperation with the regional advisory councils in a later stage. We underline that this research, which is mainly based on expert judgement, will only provide a part of the answer to the effectiveness question. The research's ambition is explicitly not to make technical, quantitative analyses of policy's effectiveness. Instead, the ambition is to make a social-constructivist analysis in which qualitative analyses are made of Flemish water quality policy, based on arguments and considerations of experts and overarching reflections from the researchers.

Keywords:ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Disciplines:Other economics and business, Applied sociology, Policy and administration, Social change, Social psychology, Social stratification, Social theory and sociological methods, Sociology of life course, family and health, Other sociology and anthropology, Citizenship, immigration and political inequality, International and comparative politics, Multilevel governance, National politics, Political behaviour, Political organisations and institutions, Political theory and methodology, Public administration, Other political science