Abstract. Governance of natural resources is inherently complex and requires
navigating trade-offs at multiple dimensions. In this paper, we present and
operationalize the “governance disruptions framework” (GDF) as a tool for
holistic analysis of natural resource governance systems. For each of the
four dimensions of the framework (target adequacy, object adequacy,
instrument adequacy, and behavioural adequacy), we formulate guiding
questions to be used when applying the framework to particular governance
systems. We then demonstrate the use of GDF by applying it to the core of
German agricultural soil policy. We show that for each framework dimension,
the governance system exhibits deficits, particularly with respect to object
adequacy and instrument adequacy. Furthermore, we use the GDF-based analysis
to highlight research gaps. We find that stakeholder analyses are a central
gap across GDF dimensions.