ABSTRACT
This chapter elaborates on the opportunities and difficulties with reinventing government. Governance systems can be compared with living organisms that are not, and cannot, be designed and engineered by someone in charge. Governance networks, the easier observable embedded components of governance systems at large, can be conceptualized as complex adaptive systems. Positive or negative feedback in governance processes can be seen as specific types of interaction between the actors in a governance network. Successful implementation of climate adaptation measures highly depends on the state of the complex governance system in which these measures have to be developed and applied. In large parts of the Netherlands, climate adaptation mainly means increasing water retention capacity to store rainwater. The success of climate adaptation seems to depend paradoxically on the willingness to embrace the logic of the existing governance system, more than on attempts to reinvent governance in compliance with climate demands.
