The Dynamics of Justification in Policy Reform: Insights from Water Policy Debates in Ireland

Policy reform can be complex and fraught with contending arguments. Although much research has been conducted into the politics of coalition formation, less attention has been devoted to legitimating logics in policy reform. Drawing on the work of Boltanski and Thévenot, this exploratory study addresses this deficit by examining the influence of justifications deployed in policy debates. The paper analyses the role of shifting reasoning in contentious debates concerning attempts to reform water policy, including the introduction of domestic water charges in Ireland. Employing data from parliamentary deliberations, the paper traces the changing forms of justification used by those favouring and opposing the reforms. This examination suggests the importance of aligning an argument’s content with the shifting context into which it is introduced. The paper highlights the benefits of an investigative approach concerning policy justification for understanding policy reform dynamics at the intersection of politics and environmental communication.     

Community participation in cultural heritage and environmental policy formulation in Botswana

Cultural heritage does not have direct economic benefits. However, if properly managed it can stimulate social cohesions, improving the environment and have beneficial economic spin offs for the local communities. This paper discusses the role of communities in the formulation of the policies concerning their local environment. It argues that community engagement by policy makers is important in giving legitimacy and ownership of the policies. Furthermore, this paper discusses the potential of cultural heritage in diversifying the economy in Botswana. This paper recommends for the re-assessment of the relationship between the state and local communities which is critical in resuscitating the seemingly ailing community business organizations. In conclusion, it argues for the sustainable management of cultural heritage as a social and economic resource in the next 50 years of Botswana’s independence.     

环境监测技术服务社会化的政策文本研究

以部分省(市)颁布的29份环境监测技术服务社会化政策为研究样本,将市场准入、监测领域、运行管理和监督制裁作为政策文本的分析框架进行计量分析。部分省(市)相关规定具有一定的创新性,使以往混乱的社会环境监测技术服务市场进一步规范化;但多数省(市)的环境监测技术服务社会化政策存在市场准入条件苛刻、监测领域有待放开、运行管理模式僵化、监督制裁手段单一等难题。最后提出放宽市场准入条件、有序开放监测领域、构建多元管理模式、完善监督制裁体系等4项建议对上述难题予以回应。     

输美轮胎特保案对中国贸易的影响及对策

分析了2009年9月26日美国对中国轮胎进口实施的特别保护措施,运用国际贸易和国际经济学的相关理论,对美国轮胎特保法案进行了剖析。在目前中美轮胎贸易情况下,从宏观和微观的角度探讨了轮胎贸易顺差形成的原因,以及长期和短期内对中国经济的影响,并对中国轮胎出口贸易提出了几点政策建议。     

我国脱硝市场的现状及发展建议

我国脱硝市场任务艰巨,政策扶持将催生爆发性机遇。脱硝产业目前存在缺乏具有自主知识产权的核心技术、绝大多数单位依靠引进技术、市场竞争处于无序状态等问题;提出了发展脱硝市场的应对措施,建议建立市场准入制度和经济补贴政策,加强排放标准制订工作。     

The Fallacies of Concurrent Climate Policy Efforts

Climate policy has assumed an extreme degree of urgency in the international debate in recent years. This article begins by taking a critical look at the scientific underpinnings of the efforts to stabilize the climate. It points to several serious question marks on the purported relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, and expresses distrust about claims of impending catastrophes related to rising sea levels, hurricanes, and spread of infectious disease. It then reviews the concurrent climate policy efforts and concludes that they are incoherent, misguided and unduly costly, and that they have so far had no perceptible impact on anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The exceedingly ambitious policy plans currently under preparation suffer from similar fallacies. For these reasons, but also because of the remaining scientific doubts and the exorbitant costs that have to be incurred, skepticism is expressed about the preparedness to implement the climate policy plans currently on the table.     

Climate Policy to Defeat the Green Paradox

Carbon dioxide emissions have accelerated since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol. This discouraging development may partly be blamed on accelerating world growth and on lags in policy instruments. However, it also raises serious question concerning whether policies to reduce CO₂ emissions are as effective as generally assumed. In recent years, a considerable number of studies have identified various feedback mechanisms of climate policies that often erode, and occasionally reinforce, their effectiveness. These studies generally focus on a few feedback mechanisms at a time, without capturing the entire effect. Partial accounting of policy feedbacks is common in many climate scenarios. The IPCC, for example, only accounts for direct leakage and rebound effects. This article attempts to map the aggregate effects of different types of climate policy feedback mechanisms in a cohesive framework. Controlling feedback effects is essential if the policy measures are to make any difference on a global level. A general conclusion is that aggregate policy feedback mechanisms tend to make current climate policies much less effective than is generally assumed. In fact, various policy measures involve a definite risk of ‘backfiring’ and actually increasing CO₂ emissions. This risk is particularly pronounced once effects of climate policies on the pace of innovation in climate technology are considered. To stand any chance of controlling carbon emissions, it is imperative that feedback mechanisms are integrated into emission scenarios, targets for emission reduction and implementation of climate policy. In many cases, this will reduce the scope for subsidies to renewable energy sources, but increase the scope for other measures such as schemes to return carbon dioxide to the ground and to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases from wetlands and oceans. A framework that incorporates policy feedback effects necessitates rethinking the design of the national and regional emission targets. This leads us to a new way of formulating emission targets that include feedback effects, the global impact target. Once the full climate policy feedback mechanisms are accounted for, there are probably only three main routes in climate policy that stand a chance of mitigating global warming: (a) returning carbon to the ground, (b) technological leaps in zero-emission energy technology that make it profitable to leave much carbon in the ground even in Annex II countries and (c) international agreements that make it more profitable to leave carbon in the ground or in forests.     

建筑行业发展与低碳生活的推广探讨

低碳生活是一种自然地节约各种资源的习惯,是一种生活习惯。气候变化是本世纪最严重的全球问题之一,不断推进低碳生活是减少人类生活对气候影响的重要途径。低碳生活推广后,消费者对建筑的规划、环境影响以及节能等关注将增加,进而影响建筑行业的发展。在分析低碳生活对建筑影响的基础上,提出了包括人才培养、政策支持和扩大宣传的多级支持发展建议。     

Social learning in a policy-mandated collaboration: community wildfire protection planning in the eastern United States

Policies such as the US Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) mandate collaboration in planning to create benefits such as social learning and shared understanding among partners. However, some question the ability of top-down policy to foster successful local collaboration. Through in-depth interviews and document analysis, this paper investigates social learning and transformative learning in three case studies of Community Wildfire Protection Planning (CWPP), a policy-mandated collaboration under HFRA. Not all CWPP groups engaged in social learning. Those that did learned most about organisational priorities and values through communicative learning. Few participants gained new skills or knowledge through instrumental learning. CWPP groups had to commit to learning, but the design of the collaborative-mandate influenced the type of learning that was most likely to occur. This research suggests a potential role for top-down policy in setting the structural context for learning at the local level, but also confirms the importance of collaborative context and process in fostering social learning.     

Relation between management's behavioural intentions toward the environment and environmental actions

Drawing on Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour, this paper analyses whether there is a relation between management's behavioural intentions toward an environmental problem and the company's specific actions in this area, and also considers the impact of the company size on these actions. For the data, a questionnaire was sent to 184 managers employed in industrial companies located in Spain which belonged to the automobile industry. The empirical analysis produces positive and significant regression coefficients and provides support for the hypotheses proposed. Specifically, the results show that the environmental actions carried out in the company respond at least in part to management's behavioural intentions toward these issues and the size of the firm.