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What roles do governments play vis-à-vis niche actors? A typology illustrated with transition dynamics in the Dutch agri-food system

Runhaar, Hens ; van Doorn, Sophie ; Bello Cartagena, Laura ; van Oers, Laura LU orcid ; de Graaff, Sabine ; Offringa, Charlotte ; Pustilnik, Nataliia ; Remorie, Evelien ; Lageweg, Willem and Raven, Rob (2025) In Environmental Science and Policy 172.
Abstract
Regime change is considered essential for sustainability transitions. An important source of regime change is pressure from alternative innovations developed in niches and the actors involved. Governments often play an important role in such niche-regime interactions and affect whether, and how, this results in regime change. However, an overview of the various roles governments can play with respect to niche innovations and actors is lacking. In this paper, we identify a diversity of roles of governments vis-à-vis niche innovations and the actors involved. An iterative research design was employed that combines literature, team brainstorm sessions, interviews, and empirical analysis of dynamics in the Dutch agri-food system. We propose a... (More)
Regime change is considered essential for sustainability transitions. An important source of regime change is pressure from alternative innovations developed in niches and the actors involved. Governments often play an important role in such niche-regime interactions and affect whether, and how, this results in regime change. However, an overview of the various roles governments can play with respect to niche innovations and actors is lacking. In this paper, we identify a diversity of roles of governments vis-à-vis niche innovations and the actors involved. An iterative research design was employed that combines literature, team brainstorm sessions, interviews, and empirical analysis of dynamics in the Dutch agri-food system. We propose a typology consisting of 6 roles, ranging from facilitating regime change in favour of niche actors to actively defending incumbent regimes. The typology is a first attempt to enable the characterisation and analysis of governmental roles and their implications for regime change, either statically at a particular moment or dynamically in how roles evolve over time. We invite policy-makers and politicians to use the typology to reflect on their positionality in ongoing agri-food transitions. © 2025 (Less)
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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Environmental Science and Policy
volume
172
article number
104206
pages
9 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105014626455
ISSN
1462-9011
DOI
10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104206
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
a823fcbf-a65c-429e-a735-6bc1f49d2844
date added to LUP
2026-04-20 15:28:02
date last changed
2026-04-21 10:43:59
@article{a823fcbf-a65c-429e-a735-6bc1f49d2844,
  abstract     = {{Regime change is considered essential for sustainability transitions. An important source of regime change is pressure from alternative innovations developed in niches and the actors involved. Governments often play an important role in such niche-regime interactions and affect whether, and how, this results in regime change. However, an overview of the various roles governments can play with respect to niche innovations and actors is lacking. In this paper, we identify a diversity of roles of governments vis-à-vis niche innovations and the actors involved. An iterative research design was employed that combines literature, team brainstorm sessions, interviews, and empirical analysis of dynamics in the Dutch agri-food system. We propose a typology consisting of 6 roles, ranging from facilitating regime change in favour of niche actors to actively defending incumbent regimes. The typology is a first attempt to enable the characterisation and analysis of governmental roles and their implications for regime change, either statically at a particular moment or dynamically in how roles evolve over time. We invite policy-makers and politicians to use the typology to reflect on their positionality in ongoing agri-food transitions. © 2025}},
  author       = {{Runhaar, Hens and van Doorn, Sophie and Bello Cartagena, Laura and van Oers, Laura and de Graaff, Sabine and Offringa, Charlotte and Pustilnik, Nataliia and Remorie, Evelien and Lageweg, Willem and Raven, Rob}},
  issn         = {{1462-9011}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Environmental Science and Policy}},
  title        = {{What roles do governments play vis-à-vis niche actors? A typology illustrated with transition dynamics in the Dutch agri-food system}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104206}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104206}},
  volume       = {{172}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}