Researching Governance for Sustainable Development: Some Conceptual Clarifications
Författare
Summary, in English
This article addresses two problems characterizing policy thinking on environmental change and sustainable development. First, the role of the social sciences in the wider processes of governance is sometimes misrepresented such that the likelihood of achieving consensual decision-making on environmental phenomena is overestimated. Second, the social science discourse on governance is plagued by conceptual confusion. This article seeks to address these problems by outlining an analytical framework for environmental governance research. In the view of this article, scientific knowledge claims are integral parts of governance processes. The article advocates a holistic understanding of governance that includes the production and diffusion of scientific knowledge, political interaction, and decision-making as well as the wider institutional context required for policy implementation and enforcement. The conclusion is that the entire governance process from the translation of scientific knowledge into policy proposals to the implementation will always be laden with politically charged opportunity costs.
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2015
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
447-466
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Journal of Developing Societies
Volym
31
Issue
4
Fulltext
- Available as PDF - 93 kB
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Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
SAGE Publications
Ämne
- Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Nyckelord
- science and technology studies
- institutions
- policy studies
- environmental sociology
- sustainability
- governance
- science-policy nexus
- sociologi
Status
Published
Forskningsgrupp
- Sustainability and Development Studies
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 0169-796X