INSPIRE obscured by clouds of inter-organizational cooperation with geoICT?

Abstract

The INSPIRE Directive, a European Union Directive to promote change in the use and re-use of geospatial information in all European member states, is indirectly and implicitly assuming new forms of cooperation between public authorities, and assuming non-problematic networking and cooperation between public authorities. Empirical evidence from public administration science is however showing that cooperation is a frequently researched and loaded term and that changing existing forms, or introducing new forms of public sector cooperation, has often proven to be problematic. This article investigates for three cases in the Netherlands how political-organizational motives may play a role in the cooperation with geographic information and communication technology (geoICT). In the analysis, the assumption is that individual organizations operate in a dynamic arena of interests and influences, which have an impact in decisions and behaviour within the cooperation. The analysis itself applies an analytical approach, whereby for each case a selected set of political-organizational notions are compared. These notions include: authority, interest, command, control and coordination. The cases chosen are different in the degree to which INSPIRE objectives play a direct role, or a less direct role. The data was collected through qualitative research techniques. The investigation shows that the political-organizational context in which INSPIRE needs to be adopted has a direct impact on the degree of its acceptance. Common in the cases is the increase of operational agreements, which trigger an increase of alternative structures. These alternatives are legitimized by other policies and directives. The consequence for INSPIRE implementation is that if these political-organizational motives are not taken into account appropriately, the unintended and often hidden counter-effects may hamper the overall implementation of the INSPIRE Directive. A possible next phase of the research would need to validate the results by investigating the cases more longitudinally, and by comparing with other cases, both in the Netherlands and Europe.

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