The rising challenge of the realization of large infrastructure projects in complex decision-making processes

This thesis seeks to analyze and explain a complex decision-making process from a governance network perspective.  As for the underlaying empirical case, the Munich Airport expnsion project was chosen, a highly mediatized and controversial infrastructure project which was characterized by a thirteen-year-long decision-making process.  The main research question of the thesis focuses on the factors that infleunced the complex decision-making process. In other words: Which factors influence the realization of the new runway at Munich Airport?  The thesis gives an overview over the history and different modes of Public Administration and Management and theoretically explains the main characteristics and concepts of governance network theory.  The case study is designed as a single-case study and follows a qualitative approach. The necessary data to reconstruct and illuminate the historical context of the case was collected through the conduction of several expert interviews with the most relevant network actors as well as from official documents and webpages.  Empirically, this thesis illuminates the decision-making process about the new runway at Munich Airport. To structure the decision-making process, the rounds model is applied which helps to separate the process into various rounds of decision-making and intermediate outcomes. Each round thereby ends with a crucial decision. For the analyzation of the case, cognitive, strategic, instiutional and management factors are applied which are central concepts of governance network theory to specifically analyze complex governance processes. Therefore, the variables of actors and strategies (strategic factors), perceptions and the use of information (cognitive factors), arenas (institutional factors) and the form of management style applied (management factors) are used to analyze four rounds of decision-making.  Furthermore, after the overall description of the case, the success or failure of the policy debate concerning the future of Munich Airport is evaluated from a governance network perspective. This is done by asking if cognitive, strategic or institutional learning 3 occurred during the process. As these concepts provide important criteria for success or failure, they allow for the judgement of complex governance processes.  Reversely, by assessing the generated outcomes of the process following these questions, finally important explanations are found which can be referred to as cognitive, strategic and institutional causes. Furthermore, by asking if the adequate management style of network governance was applied, management causes are derived. Moreover, external causes are identified that influenced the decision-making process and its outcomes.  It is found that diverging perceptions and knowledge conflicts between actors (cognitive causes), ongoing power games (strategic causes), incompatible institutions and a low level of trust in the governance network (institutional causes) and the fallback to hierarchical forms of network management (management causes) led to stagnations in the policy process. Also political factors had significant impact on the evolvement of the process and that the project was not realized. With the change in government and due to electoral reasons, perceptions and strategies were strongly shifted and ultimately resulted in the postponement of the project. Additionally, societal factors such as the site-specific conditions and the culture of environmental sustainability played an important role in shaping the perceptions of actors and therefore influenced the decisionmaking process.  Lastly, on basis of the results of this research, recommendations for the management of similar projects are provided as well as specifically for the Munich case. Thereby the introduced suggestions orientate on measures that were effectively taken in a similar runway project in Frankfurt. Thus, the importance of widening the policy scope is highlighted and the concurrent increased room for negotiations.