Governance as strategy: reflections from influencing international environmental policy
Ajoy Datta
Dear colleagues,
I wanted to share a recent article I’ve written that may resonate with many of you working at the intersection of governance, policy influence, and adaptive development.
It explores how internal governance - the way decisions are made, authority is distributed, and legitimacy is built - shaped one international organisation’s ability to influence a UN treaty on ocean governance. The negotiations took more than two decades and required not just technical expertise, but sustained political engagement, relationship-building, and the capacity to adapt over time.
The organisation’s effectiveness wasn’t only about having the right messages or strategies externally. It was about how it was governed internally - how it responded to complexity, navigated divergent interests, and created space for distributed leadership. A few insights stood out:
🔹 Legitimacy takes time. Policy positions were generated and approved through member-driven processes. This gave the organisation credibility but also meant slower decision-making – a real challenge when trying to seize fleeting policy windows.
🔹 Influence is relational and iterative. The organisation’s governance enabled expert groups, regional offices, and central teams to work together. But this required an ongoing negotiation of control and autonomy - and a willingness to shift roles as the process evolved.
🔹 Adapting narratives as contexts shift. The treaty was initially framed as a conservation issue - which resonated with scientific and Global North policy circles. But as negotiations unfolded, and with growing input from Global South voices, the narrative expanded to include development, equity, and climate resilience. This was a strategic as well as moral shift.
🔹 Funding shapes flexibility. The organisation moved from primarily relying on voluntary contributions to seeking dedicated funding. This opened new possibilities but also raised tensions around whose agendas were being advanced and at what cost.
The article argues that governance is not a background function - it is a central determinant of an organisation’s ability to adapt, collaborate, and influence in complex policy environments.
You can read the full piece here
I’d be really interested in hearing how others in this community have seen internal governance shape or constrain the ability to work adaptively in complex systems.
Warm regards,
Ajoy
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