Trajectories of institutional design in policy networks: European interventions in the Dutch fishery network as an example

Abstract

This article focuses on the strategies and processes of institutional design. It starts by recognizing that politicians often try to change institutional structures of networks and therefore more theoretical and empirical attention for these strategies is needed. First, the article provides a brief theoretical framework for understanding institutional changes and identifying institutional design strategies. Then it illustrates the framework by in-depth empirical research of the institutional changes in the Dutch fishery network as a result of the interventions of the European Union. The article first elaborates the strategic interventions of the EU and then traces the changes of rules as constructed and reconstructed by the actors in the network. The article ends by assessing the influence of the EU interventions and also by presenting some reflections on the concept of institutional design.