Full Description
In April 1997 a group of social scientists in Germany came together to form a task force on institutional dimensions of global environmental change. At the time they were all engaged in research projects funded by the German Re search Council (DFG) within its Priority Programme "Global Environmental Change - Social and Behavioural Dimensions". Coming initially from the fields of political science and sociology they were motivated by a common interest in advancing knowledge on processes of institutional change relevant to major environmental problems. By exploring the capacity of diverse disci plinary approaches to explain institutional change and by exchanging knowl edge on environmental institutions in various social, cultural and political settings they aimed to shed fresh light on the complex dynamics of institu tions. By 1999 the task force had grown in numbers and scope to include geographers, cultural anthropologists and cultural psychologists, reflecting a unique and broad spectrum of social science research into institutions and the environment. The new members brought not only new disciplinary perspec tives to the group, but also an interest in a wider range of institutions func tioning at different societal levels and in new cultural settings, including de veloping countries. This book is the principal product of the task force.
Contents
Preface.- Foreword.- Institutional Change and Social Learning in Environmental Contexts: An Introduction.- I: Reshaping Institutions.- Of Course International Institutions Matter: But When and How?.- Learning in International Public Policy Networks. Managing Institutional Interplay between National and International Forest Programmes.- Solving Problems of 'Fit' at the Expense of Problems of 'Interplay'? The Spatial Reorganisation of Water Management Following the EU Water Framework Directive.- Using Market Institutions for Sustainability: Environmental Production Standards in the Coffee Trade.- II: Linking Institutional Change to Social Practice.- Institutionalisation of Ecological Risk Perceptions: The Role of Climate Change Discourses in Germany.- Politics, Law and Citizens' Responsibility. Justice Judgements in the Everday Reconstruction of Environmental Conflicts.- Institutional Dynamics of Changing Land Care Practices in the Central Namib Desert.- III: Institutionalising Social Learning.- Resolving Environmental Conflicts. Mediation and Negotiation as Institutional Capacities for Social Learning.- Myths and Laws: Changing Institutions of Indigenous Marine Resource Management in Central America.- Lessons Drawn from Burden Sharing Exercises. The EC Acidification and Climate Change Policies.- Social Learning at the Science-Policy Interface — A Comparison of the IPCC and the Scientific Assessments LRTAP Convention.- Conclusions.- Institutional Change in Environmental Contexts.- About the Authors.
