Environmental Politics And Deliberative Democracy

This important new book provides an excellent critical evaluation of new modes of governance in environmental and sustainability policy. The multidisciplinary team of contributors combine fresh insights from all levels of governance all around a carefully crafted conceptual framework to advance our understanding of the effectiveness and legitimacy of new types of steering, including networks, public private partnerships, and multi-stakeholder dialogues. This is a crucial contribution to the field. Frank Biermann, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands Can new modes of governance, such as public private partnerships, stakeholder consultations and networks, promote effective environmental policy performance as well as increased deliberative and participatory quality? This book argues that in academic inquiry and policy practice there has been a deliberative turn, manifested in a revitalized interest in deliberative democracy coupled with calls for novel forms of public private governance. By linking theory and practice, the contributors critically examine the legitimacy and effectiveness of new modes of governance, using a range of case studies on climate, forestry, water and food safety policies from local to global levels. Environmental Politics and Deliberative Democracy will appeal to scholars, both advanced undergraduate and postgraduate, as well as researchers of environmental politics, international relations, environmental studies and political science. It will also interest practitioners involved in the actual design and implementation of new governance modes in areas of sustainable development, food safety, forestry and climate change.

Contemporary democracies are frequently criticized for failing to respond adequately to environmental problems and our political institutions are often charged with misrepresenting environmental values in decision-making processes. In this innovative volume, Graham Smith argues that the enhancement and institutionalisation of democratic deliberation will improve reflection on the wide range of environmental values that citizens hold. Drawing on theories of deliberative democracy, Smith argues that institutions need to be restructured in order to promote democratic dialogue and reflection on the plurality of environmental values. Deliberative Democracy and the Environment makes an important contribution to our understanding of the relationship between democratic and green political theory. Drawing on evidence from Europe and the United States, it systematically engages with questions of institutional design.

Linking theory and practice, this book explores the potential of deliberative democracy to produce more effective environmental policy.

Walter F. Baber and Robert V. Bartlett.

This volume examines the reasons why some despair at the prospects for an ecological form of democracy, and challenges the recent ‘deliberative turn’ in environmental political thought. Deliberative democracy has become popular for those seeking a reconciliation of these two forms of politics. Demand for equal access to a public forum in which the best argument will prevail appears to offer a way of incorporating environmental interests into the democratic process. This book argues that deliberative theory, far from being friendly to the environmental movement, shackles the ability those seeking radical change to make their voices heard in the most effective manner. Mathew Humphrey challenges beliefs about the relationship between ecological politics and democracy at a time when those who take direct action are being swept up in the War on Terror. By calling for a more open and contested form of democracy, in which the boundaries of what constitutes ‘acceptable’ behaviour are not decided in advance of actual debate, Ecological Politics and Democratic Theory is an original contribution to the literature on environmental politics, ecological thought and democracy.

Deliberative democracy is increasingly central in democratic theory and its concepts are employed in a growing number of fields, including social movement studies and environmental politics. At the same time, contemporary citizen activism seems to feature some forms of engagement that resonate with deliberative democratic ideas. This book provides an in-depth investigation of the qualities of citizens’ engagement from a deliberative democratic standpoint. The key concept through which such qualities are investigated is ‘deliberative capacity’, the extent to which organisations host authentic, inclusive, and consequential discursive processes. This book is based on a comparative study of four grassroots local initiatives, two from Australia (in Tasmania and Queensland) and two from Italy (in Emilia-Romagna and Sicily). By offering a critical assessment of deliberation in social movement organisations, this study identifies key aspects affecting their ability to pursue democratic deliberation and sheds new light on the role of community actors in deliberative democracy.

John Dryzek provides an accessible introduction to thinking about the environment by looking at the way people use language on environmental issues. He analyses the main discourses from the last 30 years and those likely to be influential in future.

'An imaginative and stimulating collection of essays that makes an indispensable contribution to the literature on forest and environmental policy and governance.' – David Humphreys, the Open University, UK 'This is a very timely, relevant and interesting volume. Environmental problems are pertinent problems, as the book rightly states, so we need continuous attention and effort to analyse and apply environmental governance modes. Although urgently needed, their effectiveness and legitimacy are neither straight forward nor given. Therefore, a thorough in-depth analysis of these modes, their characteristics and their pros and cons is very helpful, both for academics and policy makers. This is exactly what this book offers.' – Bas Arts, Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands 'This excellent collection of articles by leading scholars in a variety of natural resource policy fields examines cases in participation, horizontal and vertical co-ordination, and the role of science and expertise in environmental policy formation. the legitimacy and effectiveness of each of these key components of governance and meta-governance regimes is assessed in important areas such as climate change and parks and wilderness preservation. the volume brings an admirable consistency of focus to the analysis of new governance modes in environmental policy and sheds new light upon important recent trends and developments in the area.' – Michael Howlett, Simon Fraser University, Canada Environmental policy making has become an experimental field for new modes of governance. This timely book focuses on three prominent characteristics of new governance arrangements: the broad participation of non-state actors, the attempt to improve vertical and horizontal coordination, and the effort to integrate different types of expertise in an effective and democratically accountable way. Building on the analytical perspectives of legitimacy and effectiveness, which are seen as genuine acid test criteria for new governance, this book provides a critical assessment of current practices of participation, coordination and evidence-based policy making in various case studies of environmental governance, in particular in the fields of biodiversity, climate and forest policy. the book provides insights from selected governance processes that go beyond consultancy-style best-practice examples but are embedded in a solid conceptual and theoretical discussion that will be invaluable to policymakers. It will also prove essential for scholars interested in environmental politics; policy studies; public policy; public administration; European politics; as well as science and technology studies.