Doctoral Thesis 340 Mid Sweden University Doctoral Thesis 340,2021 Faculty of Human Sciences ISSN 1652-893X, ISBN 978-91-88947-98-7 Doctoral Thesis in Sociology www.miun.se On the Governmentalization of Sustainability: the Case of Flood Risk Mitigation in Sweden of Sustainability: On the Governmentalization On the Governmentalization of Sustainability: the Case of Flood Risk Mitigation in Sweden Per Becker Per Becker Per 2021 On the governmentalization of sustainability: the case of flood risk mitigation in Sweden Per Becker Main supervisor: Professor Roine Johansson Co-supervisor: Associate Professor Jörgen Sparf Faculty opponent: Professor Karin Ingold Faculty of Human Sciences Thesis for Doctoral degree in Sociology Mid Sweden University Sundsvall/Östersund, 13 April 2021 Akademisk avhandling som med tillstånd av Mittuniversitetet i Östersund framläggs till offentlig granskning för avläggande av filosofie doktor fredagen den 28 maj 2021, med start 13:00, sal O212 och online, Mittuniversitetet Östersund. Seminariet kommer att hållas på engelska. On the governmentalization of sustainability: the case of flood risk mitigation in Sweden © Author, 13 April 2021 Printed by Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall ISSN: 1652-893X ISBN: 978-91-88947-98-7 Faculty of Human Sciences Mid Sweden University, SE-831 25 Östersund Phone: +46 (0)10 142 80 00 Mid Sweden University Doctoral Thesis 340 To the curiosity that never killed the cat Acknowledgement I have always been curious and genuinely interested in how things work and hang together. When I do not understand, I ask, read, and study. The more I learn, the more I realize how complex, dynamic, uncertain, and ambiguous our world is. Hence, this doctoral thesis accounts for my second PhD and fifth academic degree. This would not have been possible without the support of my former Heads of Division and Department at Lund University: Marcus Abrahamsson and Jesper Arfvidsson; the only two people who never saw it as strange to study for a second PhD in another discipline, but instead as enriching for our organization. I am also immensely grateful to my colleagues at Mid Sweden University, who, after first seeing my wish as very strange, took me in and guided me on my journey towards becoming a sociologist. I would particularly like to thank Roine Johansson and Anna Olofsson, who endorsed my admission and became my supervisors, and to Jörgen Sparf, who agreed to take Anna’s place as co-supervisor when my research focus evolved into the relational endeavour you have in front of you. This is not to ignore the vital input and genial encouragement from everybody at the Risk and Crisis Research Centre (RCR) and the Forum for Gender Studies, who I have been fortunate to meet more or less frequently over the last several years. I would also like to thank James Kennedy at the University of Edinburgh for kindling my interest in his discipline of sociology all those years ago, and everybody I have had interesting conversations with about society since then. I am thankful to all the participants in my study, for their time and invaluable input, and to everybody who has assisted me in various ways. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to my family for allowing my curiosity, while keeping my priorities straight. Table of contents Abstract .............................................................................................................. ix Summary in Swedish ......................................................................................... x List of papers ..................................................................................................... xi Preface .............................................................................................................. xiii Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................... 2 1.2 The knowledge gap ........................................................................................ 5 1.3 Purpose and research questions .................................................................... 5 1.4 Limitations ...................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Overview of thesis .......................................................................................... 7 Theoretical framework ....................................................................................... 9 2.1 Flood risk and its mitigation ............................................................................ 9 2.2 Governing and governmentality .................................................................... 12 2.3 Institutionalization and new institutionalism .................................................. 14 2.4 Studying governmentalization ...................................................................... 19 Methodology and methods .............................................................................. 25 3.1 Case study research ..................................................................................... 25 3.2 Demarcating a single case ........................................................................... 26 3.3 Multiple, embedded units of analysis ............................................................ 27 3.4 Structural and interpretative analyses .......................................................... 27 3.5 Selection of the case .................................................................................... 28 3.6 Selection of sources ..................................................................................... 29 3.7 Data collection .............................................................................................. 31 3.8 Data analysis ................................................................................................ 31 Empirical contributions ................................................................................... 37 4.1 Catching up with an escalating problem ....................................................... 37 4.2 The more the merrier .................................................................................... 39 4.3 Gaps within and between municipalities ....................................................... 40 4.4 Temporal fragmentation in practices ............................................................ 44 4.5 Municipal relations with external actors ........................................................ 45 4.6 Authorities pass the buck and guard the gate .............................................. 47 4.7 Consultants swoop in ................................................................................... 49 4.8 To absent friends .......................................................................................... 51 4.9 Modes of thinking ......................................................................................... 52 Discussion ........................................................................................................ 55 5.1 The governing of flood risk mitigation ........................................................... 55 5.2 The governmentalization of flood risk mitigation .......................................... 66 5.3 The governmentalization of sustainability ..................................................... 74 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 79 6.1 Answering the research questions ............................................................... 79 6.2 Contribution to the knowledge gap ............................................................... 80 6.3 Implications of the research .......................................................................... 80 6.4 Future research ............................................................................................ 81 References ........................................................................................................ 83 8 Abstract Contemporary society is confronted with numerous sustainability challenges. Some are new, others have been around since time immemorial, but none have been governed on the societal level since their emergence. Despite an abundant literature that addresses the governing of a range of such sustainability challenges, the processes through which they become something governable in the first place have not received much attention. This thesis, therefore, seeks to increase our understanding of how complex sustainability challenges become governmentalized in advanced liberal democracies. It presents an empirical investigation of the recent problematization of flood risk mitigation in a specific area. The goal is to answer two questions: (1) how flood risk mitigation is governed; and (2) how the process of governmentalization is conditioning this governing in Sweden. It combines theoretical perspectives of governmentality and new institutionalism. The case study focuses on the governing of flood risk mitigation in Lomma municipality and the Höje Å catchment area in Southern Sweden, and mixes structural and interpretative methods. Data were collected through 217 interviews with all actors who actively contribute to flood risk mitigation in the area, together with numerous documentary sources. The findings reveal remarkable spatial, temporal, and functional fragmentation in