The ebb and flow of power: British flood risk management and the politics of scale

Penning-Rowsell, Edmund C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5333-8641 and Johnson, Clare L. (2015) The ebb and flow of power: British flood risk management and the politics of scale. Geoforum, 62 . pp. 131-142. ISSN 0016-7185 [Article] (doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.03.019)

Abstract

This paper examines the rescaling of flood risk management (FRM) in Britain over the past 70+ years. Drawing on recent research in geography and elsewhere – which has engaged the politics of scale literature with the rescaling of water and environmental governance – we seek to illustrate the mis-match between the rescaling of the geographical unit of management and the nexus of power and control of those engaged in FRM. For those seeking positive examples of multi-level decentralised governance in water resource management, where power is shared across the spatial scales, our historical analysis struggles to find evidence. Rather, despite attempts to ‘hollow-out’ the state through the scaling ‘out’ and ‘down’ of FRM responsibilities, our evidence suggests that the control over key decision-making tools, resources and other modalities of power remains in the hands of a few key national-level decision-makers; it is the responsibility that has been decentralised, not least to those at risk of flooding. The application of the politics of scale theorising in a FRM context is innovative and, importantly, our case study demonstrates that such politics does not have to involve open conflict but is much more subtle in its deployment of power.

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