Learn and Adapt, or Perish: The Case of the F35 Lightning II

Abstract

We assess to what extent a (co)evolutionary macro level approach enhances our understanding of learning in governance processes. We ask the question: in what ways do actors learn to improve their chances of long-term survival in complex governance processes? We deploy a model of collective decision making moulded upon fitness landscapes to analyze a longitudinal case study of collective (political and administrative) decision making, namely the process of developing and acquiring the F35 Lightning II fighter jet. The study demonstrates that actors learn how to ensure survival over time but create a failing megaproject in the process.

Agency in multi-level governance systems: The implementation puzzle and the role of ‘intelligent’ local implementers

“…Rather, co-evolution relies on an idea of selectively triggered responses (Van Assche et al, 2022: 1230). By comparing strategies of various actors in the same arena in relationship to their ability to obtain relative fitness, actors can learn about what is more effective in certain situations (Gerrits and Marks, 2022: 1361). Repeated interactions facilitate local implementers to potentially identify successful and unsuccessful configurations, exchange ideas and use the acquired knowledge to select viable solutions; those options perceived as non-beneficial are discarded (Bousema et al, 2022).…”

“No time for nonsense!”: The organization of learning and its limits in evolving governance

“…Gerrits (2022), in his enlightening narrative on the governance processes behind the appearance of a new fighter jet, dwells not so much on this last distinction as on the diversity of learning processes which can be partly decoupled from the supposed shared goal. He emphasizes the importance of interdependencies in networks of organizations and other actors in this complex procurement project and reveals the importance of organizational identity as entwined in such networks (cf Huemer et al, 2004).…”

“…Finally, Ching Leong and Michael Leong and Howlett (2022), in line with Gerrits (2022), take a close look at the diversity of learning forms in governance and link this to the performance of policy success and failure. Policy failures are often presented as unintentional, while learning is seen as positive and intentional.…”

“…Learning can be the learning to survive at all cost (cf. Gerrits, 2022), but also learning to play the game, or learning to disguise private interest as public. One can learn to push for a reinterpretation of situations and problems in such a way that one’s own expertise is always privileged (Czarniawska, 2004).…”

“…One could add that the articles clearly demonstrate that learning can be both the cause and effect of governance change, and both an intended and a side-effect (cf Mintzberg & Waters, 1985 for a striking parallel at the level of organizations). Gerrits (2022), in his enlightening narrative on the governance processes behind the appearance of a new fighter jet, dwells not so much on this last distinction as on the diversity of learning processes which can be partly decoupled from the supposed shared goal. He emphasizes the importance of interdependencies in networks of organizations and other actors in this complex procurement project and reveals the importance of organizational identity as entwined in such networks (cf Huemer et al, 2004).…”