Year: 1999
Type: article
Abstract: Environmental policies in developing countries are increasingly criticised for being predicated on highly \nquestionable assumptions. This presents two challenges. The first is to explain how and why particular \ntypes of knowledge get established in policy. The second is to think about how policy processes might be \nopened up to more diverse forms of knowledge. Understanding the knowledge-policy relationship involves \nclarifying exactly what policy is and how it is developed, and reflecting on the particular nature of scientific \nknowledge which plays such a major role in environmental policy-making. Analysing the policy process \nalso cuts to the heart of key debates in social science: why is reality framed and dealt with in certain ways? \nHow important is political conflict over distribution of power and resources? What is the role of individual \nactors in policy change? Three contrasting explanations of policy change are explored: that policy reflects \npolitical interests, that change reflects the actions of actor-networks; and that policy is a product of \ndiscourse. The paper addresses the extent to which these explanations are compatible and argues that they \ncan be taken together using a structuration argument, where discourses and interests are seen as shaping \neach other, and where both are additionally influenced by the actions of actor-networks. The analysis \nemphasises the importance of agency and suggests that powerful interests and discourses should not \nnecessarily prohibit the emergence of more participatory policy processes: those allowing room for citizen \nscience and the diverse perspectives of different actors.
Authors: James F. Keeley, Ian Scoones
Language: English
Topic: Policy Transfer and Learning
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1748189926