Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy. By Bruno Latour. Translated by Catherine Porter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004; pp. x + 307. $55.00 cloth; $24.95 paper. The academic study of environmental ethics, particularly of "deep ecology," has generated extensive scholarly discussion in recent years. Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences Into Democracy, by French author Bruno Latour, brings a fascinating and bold new twist to contemporary discussions about the nature of "nature." Latour proposes a radical shift in current conceptions of "political ecology," arguing that mainstream environmental movements are doomed to fail so long as they envision political ecology as inextricably tied to the protection and management of nature through political methodologies and policies. Instead, political ecology should abandon socially constructed representations of nature as an uncontrollable monolith. The former perspective is dangerous, Latour argues, because it enables science to silence public deliberation about ecological issues and close off options to prevent pending environmental crises. The rhetoric of science, whose credibility emanates from the dual sources of indisputable expertise and dire warnings, paralyzes the polis. Unable to contest scientific fact, and faced with pending environmental cataclysm, public and political discussion centered on the inevitable question of "What next?" becomes stagnant and devoid of solutions. In the first chapter, Latour argues that "nature is the chief obstacle that has hampered the development of public discourse" (9). Nature, or at least the agreed-upon external reality that is often represented as nature, allows science to render the public sphere voiceless. Unqualified to objectively test and observe natural facts, the polis is relegated to the sidelines, and engages in endless quibbling about matters of value which are a rung lower on the hierarchy of social concerns. The hegemony of science and the god-like status of the scientist, who is the only legitimate liaison between the natural world and the public, render meaningful political discourse impotent. "[T]he Scientist can go back and forth from one world to the other no matter what: the passageway closed to all others is open to him alone" (11). Latour concludes this chapter by examining how Western societies, particularly the United States, use nature to order and organize political life. Uncontestable facts of nature, and rhetoric that represents nature as something to be controlled, protected, or managed, permeate everyday political discourse and decision-making to a degree not seen in other cultures. Having thrown off the yoke of nature, Latour sketches one precondition for a more communal and sustainable political ecology in chapter 2. Here, a critique of anthropocentrism is used to cast off false, socially constructed distinctions between human and nonhuman, including animals and inanimate objects like rocks and trees. Of particular interest to rhetorical scholars, Latour also criticizes at length the modernist belief that speech and the capacity for rational thought distinguish humans from nonhumans. Instead, he posits that political ecology must be recast as a collective of beings both human and nonhuman, both capable of speech and mute: "a slight displacement of our attention suffices to show that nonhumans, too, are implicated in a great number of speech impedimenta" (62-63). This rethinking of the public collective is necessary to prevent scientists from imposing the idea that they definitively represent and speak for nature (the mute objects that they seek so earnestly to protect). …

Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy

This article focuses on a variant of multi-level governance and Europeanization, ie the transnational networking of local authorities Focusing on local climate change policy, the article examines how transnational municipal networks (TMNs) govern in the context of multi-level European governance We find that TMNs are networks of pioneers for pioneers

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Cities, Europeanization and Multi‐level Governance: Governing Climate Change through Transnational Municipal Networks*

Based on the results of both existing research and recent developments in OECD countries, this study focuses on two issues: the local and the multi-level dimensions of urban climate governance. Starting from the distinction between different modes of climate governance (self-governing, governing through enabling, governing by provision and governing by authority), we discuss the relevance of these modes for both mitigation and adaptation policies. These modes are distinct in terms of their governing capacities, which range from soft forms of governing to traditional forms of state intervention. The development in many countries suggests that municipalities do not fully exploit their authoritative powers and are reluctant to apply authoritative modes of governing through regulative measures and strategic planning. Various forms of horizontal and vertical collaboration are relevant to the success of urban climate governance beyond the local scale. Horizontal collaboration comprises climate governance within metro-regions and city networking. Due to a lack of horizontal collaboration within such regions many metro-regions are characterised by a spatial mismatch. A second form of horizontal self governing, city networking at national and transnational level, has become very prominent among pioneering cities in recent years. Such networks focus on best-practice transfer, learning among their members and the representation of their members’ interests at national, European and international level. However, such networks tend to be networks of pioneers for pioneers. Vertical collaboration within nation-states includes various modes of governing, ranging from an enabling role of national governments (guidelines, awards, benchmarking, and certification schemes) to funding schemes (such as the Dutch BANS agreement and the Swedish KLIMP programme) and authoritative modes of governing. In most countries climate change policy is still a predominantly voluntary task for local authorities, and most national governments limit themselves to enabling modes of governing.

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Governing Climate Change in Cities: Modes of Urban Climate Governance in Multi-Level Systems

A framework for structuring interdisciplinary research management

1. Rationalizing Politics The Rise of Social Regulation Science and Policymaking Expertise and Trust The Contingency of Knowledge The Reform Debate An Alternative Approach 2. Flawed Decisions Nitrites 2,4,5-T Love Canal Estimates of Occupational Cancer The Technocratic Response A Critical Counterpoint 3. Science for the People The Rationale for Public Science The "New" Expert Agency Scientific Advice and Open Government Judicial Review of Science Policy The Weakening of the Paradigm 4. Peer Review and Regulatory Science The Traditions of Peer Review Peer Review in Practice Instructive Failures Regulatory Science: Content and Context Implications for Regulatory Peer Review 5. EPA and the Science Advisory Board Early Political Challenges A New Cooperation Boundary Exercises SAB's Impact on Policy Conclusion 6. The Science and Policy of Clean Air CASAC and the NAAQS Process Science and Standards Redefining CASAC's Role The Carbon Monoxide Controversy CASAC's Effectiveness: Bridging Science and Policy 7. Advisers as Adversaries The Scientific Advisory Panel Implementing the Impossible Ethylene Dibromide Dicofol Alar A Fragmentation of Authority 8. FDA's Advisory Network The Scientific Evaluation of Drugs Expertise and Food Safety Advice and Decision 9. Coping with New Knowledge The Quest for Principled Risk Assessment Formaldehyde: An Uncertain Carcinogen Conclusion 10. Technocracy Revisited A Public-Private Partnership for Science Risk Assessment without Politics The Public Board of Inquiry Wider Applications 11. The Political Function of Good Science From Advice to Policy Acceptable Risk Scientific Advice as Legitimation: Negotiation and Boundary Work Defining "Good Science" Normative Implications Conclusion Notes Index

The fifth branch. Science advisers as policymakers

In der vorliegenden Studie werden die Handlungsoptionen deutscher Kommunen als
Akteure im Klimaschutz untersucht. Gerade auf lokaler Ebene ist die Durchfuhrung
entsprechender Masnahmen unverzichtbar, sollen die global, europaweit und national
angestrebten CO2-Reduktionsziele erreicht werden. Hierbei werden die Handlungsoptionen
der Kommunen vor allem durch die ihnen im deutschen Staatsaufbau zukommenden
Aufgaben, durch ihre finanzielle Situation und zunehmend durch die Richtlinien der EU
bestimmt. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden im zweiten Abschnitt die rechtlichen Grundlagen
fur kommunale Klimaschutzaktivitaten herausgearbeitet, die verschiedenen Rollen
aufgezeigt, die Kommunen in ihrem klimapolitischen Handeln einnehmen konnen, und
die einzelnen Handlungsfelder naher beleuchtet. Daruber hinaus werden vor dem Hintergrund
der fortschreitenden Europaisierung die drei transnationalen Stadtenetzwerke im
Bereich des Klimaschutzes vorgestellt, in denen sich europaische Kommunen zum Austausch
ihrer Erfahrungen und zum direkten Lobbying der politischen Institutionen der
EU organisieren. Im dritten Abschnitt wird auf Basis einer umfassenden Umfrage mittels
leitfadengestutzter Telefoninterviews der aktuelle Stand lokaler Klimaschutzmasnahmen
in deutschen Grosstadten untersucht. Hier geht es um die Frage, wie die Kommunen ihre
Handlungsoptionen nutzen, und welche Rolle die transnationale Vernetzung dabei spielt.
Im vierten Abschnitt folgt eine qualitativ-vergleichende Analyse dreier deutscher Erfolgsfalle
im Bereich des lokalen Klimaschutzes: Heidelberg, Frankfurt am Main und Munchen.
Basis des Vergleichs sind Fallstudien, die vor allem die institutionelle Verankerung,
die Kapazitaten, die Schwerpunkte und die Rolle der transnationalen Stadtenetzwerke in
der lokalen Klimaschutzpolitik eingehend untersuchen. Durch die anschliesende vergleichende
Analyse werden zum einen generelle Erfolgsbedingungen fur lokalen Klimaschutz,
zum anderen spezifische Strategien herausgearbeitet, mit denen die Kommunen
auf lokale Problemlagen reagieren. Im funften und letzten Abschnitt werden diese Ergebnisse
zusammengefasst, ubergreifende Schlussfolgerungen gezogen und die Perspektiven
lokaler Klimaschutzpolitik in Deutschland eingeschatzt.
This study investigates the available options for German municipalities as active agents in
climate change policy. If global goals, Europe-wide goals, and national goals for the
reduction of CO2 are to be reached, it is imperative that appropriate measures be taken at
local level. The choices for municipalities in this regard are determined primarily by the
responsibilities they have within the structure of the German government, by their respective
financial situations, and increasingly, by European Union directives. Against this
backdrop, section two of the study will elaborate the legal principles underlying municipal
climate protection activities, will identify various roles that municipalities can have in
climate policy action, and will more closely illuminate individual areas of activity. Moreover,
in light of the progressive “Europeanization” of local governments, section two will
present all three transnational city networks devoted to climate change policy, in which
European municipalities have organized, in order to have a forum for the exchange of
ideas and information, and in order to have a vehicle by which to lobby the political
institutions of the EU directly. Section three of the study will investigate the present
status of local climate protection measures in German cities. This investigation is based
upon a comprehensive survey conducted via guideline-supported telephone interviews.
The point was to determine how municipalities use their available options and what role
transnational networking plays in this. Section four presents a qualitative-comparative
analysis of three successful cases in the area of local climate protection, namely, the cities
of Heidelberg, Frankfurt am Main, and Munich. Case studies provide the comparative
data which, first and foremost, cover in-depth the institutional basis, capacities, main
areas of activity, and roles of transnational city networks in local climate change policy.
The final comparative analysis permits the elaboration of general conditions for successful
local-level policy and presents specific strategies which municipalities have used in
reaction to the overall problem situation. The fifth and final section of this study summarizes
these results, draws some comprehensive conclusions, and presents some perspectives
for local climate change policy in Germany.

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/49601/1/509147925.pdf

Kommunaler Klimaschutz in Deutschland : Handlungsoptionen, Entwicklung und Perspektiven

The paper provides a deeper insight into institutionally given opportunities for and limitations to reflexive, dialogue-centered, and risk-sensitive knowledge exchange between scientific experts and agro-political decision makers, especially under the conditions of a significant degree of complexity, far-reaching uncertainties and potential impacts. It focuses on the practical orientations, guiding expectations and selection criteria shaping expertise in processes of science policy consulting. In doing so, two perspectives will be discussed: first the orientation of the knowledge production process by different concepts of ‘‘usable knowledge.’’ Second, the influence of specific constellations on different stages of the political process, which shape the institutional conditions for the transfer and the use of scientific knowledge within the policy consulting process. Both perspectives help to come to a closer understanding of the demanding and very heterogeneous process of science policy consulting, which...

Knowledge on Stage: Scientific Policy Advice:

Die Zukunft der Wissenskommunikation

In 2000/01, the risk-crises of mad cow disease (BSE) and foot and mouth disease (FMD), shocked the agricultural sector and questioned the modern, industrial routines and self-conceptions within it The German red-green government used this crises as a >>window of opportunity« to proclaim the >>Agrarwende« (turnaround in agriculture), a policy change, which should open up the very closed sector for the need of ecological modernisation On basis of the >>Theory of Reflexive Modernisation« and its special attention to the >>ffects of side-effects«, this article discusses the >>Agrarwende« in its relation to a more fundamental meta-change caused by the self-referential modernisation of industrial modernity It reflects the consequences of this combination of intended change and unintended transformation for the institutions of the agricultural sector, especially in agricultural policy and science, and asks for the chances and obstacles for a deeper institutional change which could meet the challenges of a reflexive Modernity

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Jost Wagner

Papers

Kommunaler Klimaschutz in Deutschland : Handlungsoptionen, Entwicklung und Perspektiven

Knowledge on Stage: Scientific Policy Advice:

Die Zukunft der Wissenskommunikation

»Agrarwende«: Über den institutionellen Umgang mit den Folgeproblemen der Folgenreflexion im Agrarbereich

Wissensaustausch in Entscheidungsprozessen: Kommunikation an den Schnittstellen von Wissenschaft und Agrarpolitik