Towards institutional innovations for Phosphorus circularity: an analysis of governance arrangements in the European Union

Phosphorus is an exhaustible resource essential for food security that is increasingly important for technological sectors. However, its governance is largely missing. Although it is a complex, wicked and system-wide problem that has attracted significant scholarly attention, phosphorus has by far been investigated through siloed perspectives. This reproduces institutional fragmentation and limits the possibility of it becoming an element of the political agenda of institutions. To overcome this the thesis explores phosphorus governance in the EU and seeks to answer the reasons for this fragmentation, what are the dominant and emergent perspectives that can inform its governance and how can the external dimension of phosphorus governance be steered. To do so, the thesis adopts framing as an analytical heuristic that can delineate, collate and potentially converge institutional and stakeholder views. It consists of a scoping review, a frame-critical analysis of intersectoral framings of relevance to phosphorus, as well as participatory scenario building. Although investigated through various scholarly perspectives, adopting a framing heuristic allows to borrow and incorporate framings from other sectors and instruments, as well as to generate innovative policies and design features. Additionally, it can improve intersectoral coherence and connect Phosphorus to salient objectives that are higher on the institutional agenda.