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Deadline for submissions: 15 July
2003
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“Governance for Industrial
Transformation”
2003 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global
Environmental Change
Berlin, 5-6 December 2003
The Environmental Policy and Global Change section of the German
Political Science Association (DVPW) and its partners invite papers
for the 2003 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global
Environmental Change, to be held in Berlin on 5-6 December 2003.
This year’s discussions will address the theme “Governance for
Industrial Transformation”. The 2003 Berlin Conference has been
endorsed by (IHDP-IT), and is organised by the Environmental Policy
Research Centre of the Freie Universität Berlin. Additional support
is provided by the SUSTIME Project of the University of Applied
Sciences Lausitz and partners, the Global Governance Project (glogov.org)
of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the
Freie Universität Berlin and Oldenburg University, and the German
Association for Ecological Economic Research (VÖW e.V.).
The Need for Industrial Transformation
Current patterns in the production and consumption of goods, energy
and services fail to meet basic requirements of environmental
sustainability in both industrialised and developing countries. The
use of natural resources and the utilisation of the environment as a
sink for emissions exceed tolerable rates, and most producers and
consumers are still able to externalise costs caused by their
emissions or by the extraction of materials at the expense of future
generations or of other world regions. Although some indicators
point to an increasing decoupling of economic growth from
environmental degeneration, most observers agree that this is not
sufficient for sustainable economic and environmental conditions. A
more comprehensive industrial transformation towards sustainability
is hence needed, in particular in the richer countries of the North.
But what forms of governance are likely to pave the way for such
transformation?
Problem perceptions and policy approaches: Market versus State
Failure
Some scholars view market failure as the chief cause of the problem.
They see the state as the appropriate actor with sufficient capacity
and legitimacy to correct these failures. Others argue, however,
that in addition to market failures, the limited capacities of
governments to intervene in market activities are part of the
problem. They claim that ‘state failure’ results from conflicting
policy objectives for governments to protect the environment and to
further economic growth and employment at the same time. In addition,
governments often lack the necessary information and knowledge
required for the effective and efficient correction of market
failures. Governmental regulations therefore at best support the
ecological modernisation of economies by redirecting modernisation
processes towards environmentally sounder technologies. Ecological
modernisation alone, however, will not overcome structural
rigidities, and in many cases, its achievements are compensated, and
often overcompensated, by economic growth.
The conclusions based on this state failure diagnosis vary
considerably. Some scholars stress the need to better involve other
stakeholders to compensate insufficient state capacities. Others
hope that in the long run, autonomous trends of technical
modernisation will automatically reduce emissions. A third group of
studies stresses the deficits of traditional command and control but
also simple incentive based policies. More complex strategies, often
in an evolutionary spirit, such as strategic niche management,
transition management, or recently “time strategies” and other types
of innovation policies and ‘ecological industrial policy’ which
build on and aptly use and modulate ongoing innovation dynamics and
rely more on the interaction of political and broader societal
forces, have been advocated for. Yet it is open if these strategies
are likely to bring about the necessary changes.
The Core Challenges
Given this dilemma of simultaneous market and state failure, the
2003 Berlin Conference aims at bringing together new and innovative
research in this field — in particular with an empirical emphasis —
that indicates possible pathways for the successful governance of
industrial transformation processes. We invite papers that address
one or several of the following issues:
- History: Case studies
that draw on historical experiences with the management of
industrial transformation and the stimulation of ecologically
friendly innovations and markets: What were the driving forces —
autonomous market mechanisms, state regulation, or a combination
of both? What conclusions can be drawn regarding the dynamic
nature of economic and political development, in particular with a
view of economic globalisation and a possible retreat of the
capacity of states to act?
- Foresight: What methods
are available to forecast future patterns of production in order
to devise and implement appropriate policies as early as possible?
Which indicators are necessary and available for the application
of foresight methods?
- Scope: What should be the
scope of industrial transformation? Are efficiency improvements as
a result of modernisation processes a sufficient condition for
industrial transformation? Are markets or governments the proper
institutions to cope with this requirement? Or are the options for
change limited for example by deeply rooted cultural norms,
consumer (and voter) preferences or the infrastructure. Which
policies are likely to address these issues successfully?
- New Generation of Strategies
and Instruments: In how far are evolutionary strategies such
as strategic niche management, transition management or time
strategies likely to bring about the necessary changes? Are the
so-called 3rd generation instruments that build on collaboration
and information — such as the eco-management and audit scheme,
sustainability reporting of companies or voluntary agreements —
likely to contribute to the required changes, and under which
institutional settings, incentive structures and actor
constellations is this the case?
- Multi-actor and multi-level
Governance: What institutions, actors, strategies, instruments
are most likely to bring forward substantial changes in the
relationships between societies and the natural environment? Which
governance structures are promising to provide a sustainable use
of regional and local resources? Are dialogues between industry
and environmentalist NGOs an effective and legitimate instrument
to regulate a globalising industry? Which other actors (e.g.
financing services, consultants or trade unions) are able to
intervene successfully in favour of, or as an impediment to an
industrial transition? What role can international organisations
play in this respect? How can the different levels from global to
regional be co-ordinated?
Plenary speakers include
Prof. Dr. Nicholas
Ashford, Director of the Technology and Law Program, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge;
Rainer Baake State
Secretary, Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation
and Reactor Safety;
Dr. Frans Berkhout,
Director of the Sustainable Technologies Programme, University of
Sussex; Prof. Dr. Marina
Fischer-Kowalski, member of the IHDP-IT Scientific Steering
Committee, University of Vienna;
Ken GREEN, Director
CROMTEC/Institute of Innovation Research, Manchester School of
Management;
Dr. Klaus Jacob,
Environmental Policy Research Centre, Freie Universität Berlin;
Ashok Jaitly M.A., Rural Energy
Division, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi;
Prof. Dr. Martin Jänicke Environmental Policy
Research Centre, Freie Universität Berlin;
Dr.
René Kemp, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation
and Technology (MERIT);
Prof. Dr. Jan Rotmans, Director ICIS,
University of Maastricht;
Prof.
Dr. Pier Vellinga IHDP-IT,
Prof. Dr. Stefan Zundel
University of Applied
Sciences Lausitz
How to Participate
The 2003 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global
Environmental Change is the third of its kind in Germany. The last
meetings, in 2001 and 2002, each gathered around 200 participants
from all over the world for intensive two-days debates. While the
Berlin Conferences have so far been organised by the German
Political Science Association, we also seek dialogue with colleagues
from economics and other fields of the social sciences. Furthermore,
we welcome representatives of natural and integrative sciences. The
conference will be held in English. Prospective paper-givers should
send an abstract of their paper that outlines the main argument,
method and finding of the research to the conference office (BC2003@zedat.fu-berlin.de).
The submission must include name, affiliation and address of the
author(s) and must not exceed 300 words. Longer abstracts will not
be considered for review and will be discarded without further
notice.
Deadline
The deadline for submissions is 15 July 2003. All paper and panel
submissions will be reviewed before being accepted for the
conference programme. We will send out decisions on acceptance of
papers by 14 August 2003. We expect all presenters to e-mail the
final version of their paper by 15 November. Full papers submitted
earlier will be posted on our web site to initiate early discussion.
Financial Support
We are making all efforts to ensure funding to reimburse the travel
costs of some paper presenters. For earlier conferences, generous
donor support allowed us to reimburse parts of the travel costs of
many non-German participants, with special consideration of
participants from developing countries and countries with economies
in transition, and for more junior colleagues.
Further Information
Further information about the 2003 Berlin Conference will be posted
at
www.environmental-policy.de.
For questions or suggestions, please contact
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