Innovation and institutional change: the transition to a sustainable ...

36 Chapter 2
production and consumption (Mol, 1995: 29; Van Vliet 2002: 14). Mol
(1995) analyses environment-induced institutional transformations in the
Dutch chemical industry. He evaluates six hypotheses central to ecological
modernisation theory to investigate the explanatory potential of the theory.
Basically they contend that ecological considerations become increasingly
integrated into the economic, political and societal sphere. Thus in modern
society the ecological sphere gains growing independence, emancipation and
empowerment (Mol, 1995: 63). The analytical model Mol uses is the socalled
triad-network approach. According to Mol this approach is useful for
analysing meso-level transformations (economic sectors) which is the level
most appropriate to understand changes in production-consumption
systems 6 . Moreover the networks in the approach can be directly related to
the basic tenets of ecological modernisation theory as the networks represent
the economic, political and societal sphere. He distinguishes three
interdependent networks, the policy network, economic network, and
societal network. Each network has its own restricted number of interacting
actors (labelled core and peripheral actors) and its own distinctive
institutional arrangements.
For the policy network Mol focuses on four dimensions: 1) the rules of the
game; 2) the different resources used; 3) the strategies between industry and
government, and 4) the appreciative systems. Rules of the game concern the
way interactions take place (e.g. from few contacts, diverging interests and a
confrontational nature to regular consultation, mutual trust and respecting
each others interests and confidences with less use of legal remedies in the
case of one industrial branch); and the level of openness of the network (both
in terms of actors and of issues). With regard to resources Mol pays attention
to the distribution and use of legal resources (authority), economic and
financial resources, and informational resources. Strategies can include
insulation (keeping government away), penetration (e.g. by industry in
government to safeguard interest), mutual adaptation, and interorganisational
concertation (co-operation through mutual understanding of each other’s
position and interests). Appreciative systems concern the dominant ideology
or world view in the policy network that promote and legitimise specific
action strategies (or solutions) (Mol, 1995: 71).
For the economic networks Mol analysed, inspired by the industrial network
approach, in what way and to what extent interactions (vertical, horizontal
and other) between constituents of industrial networks remained the same or
transformed in confrontation with the stronger emergence of environmental
6 According to Mol (1995: 62) analysis at the micro level may miss inter-firm changes and
sectoral changes, while the macro-level would abstract from relevant environment-induced
inter-firm transformations by putting too much emphasis on the net national effect.