Who am I, to blow against the wind? Mechanisms of impasse in decision-making processes: a case study of wind infrastructure project Drentse Monden & Oostermoer in the Netherlands

Abstract

Democratic decision-making surrounding large infrastructure projects is often prone to conflict and impasse hampering the effectiveness of especially environmental policy. How impasses in decision-making form and how they should be interpreted in the broader context of democratic decisionmaking is still a matter of debate. In order to explore a mechanistic approach to analyzing policy impasse a single case study was conducted of the impasse situation surrounding wind energy infrastructure project Drentse Monden & Oostermoer in the Netherlands. Through media analysis and interviews with stakeholders, institutional, cognitive and relational mechanisms leading to impasse were uncovered and a reconstruction of the impasse through time was made. Different interpretations of the application of state coordination, poor cooperation between various governmental layers and inconsistent information fed distrust and conflict. To fill the void in impasse literature in dealing with the role of the impasse in decision-making, the results of the case study were compared to definitions in the literature. In this case a lack of proper deliberation formed the basis of the impasse.