How Institutions Change: Perspectives on Social Learning in Global and Local Environmental Contexts

In April 1997 a group of social scientists in Germany came together to form a task force on institutional dimensions of global environmental change. At the time they were all engaged in research projects funded by the German Re­ search Council (DFG) within its Priority Programme "Global Environmental Change - Social and Behavioural Dimensions". Coming initially from the fields of political science and sociology they were motivated by a common interest in advancing knowledge on processes of institutional change relevant to major environmental problems. By exploring the capacity of diverse disci­ plinary approaches to explain institutional change and by exchanging knowl­ edge on environmental institutions in various social, cultural and political settings they aimed to shed fresh light on the complex dynamics of institu­ tions. By 1999 the task force had grown in numbers and scope to include geographers, cultural anthropologists and cultural psychologists, reflecting a unique and broad spectrum of social science research into institutions and the environment. The new members brought not only new disciplinary perspec­ tives to the group, but also an interest in a wider range of institutions func­ tioning at different societal levels and in new cultural settings, including de­ veloping countries. This book is the principal product of the task force.

Table of Contents:
Preface.- Foreword.- Institutional Change and Social Learning in Environmental Contexts: An Introduction.- I: Reshaping Institutions.- Of Course International Institutions Matter: But When and How?.- Learning in International Public Policy Networks. Managing Institutional Interplay between National and International Forest Programmes.- Solving Problems of ‘Fit’ at the Expense of Problems of ‘Interplay’? The Spatial Reorganisation of Water Management Following the EU Water Framework Directive.- Using Market Institutions for Sustainability: Environmental Production Standards in the Coffee Trade.- II: Linking Institutional Change to Social Practice.- Institutionalisation of Ecological Risk Perceptions: The Role of Climate Change Discourses in Germany.- Politics, Law and Citizens’ Responsibility. Justice Judgements in the Everday Reconstruction of Environmental Conflicts.- Institutional Dynamics of Changing Land Care Practices in the Central Namib Desert.- III: Institutionalising Social Learning.- Resolving Environmental Conflicts. Mediation and Negotiation as Institutional Capacities for Social Learning.- Myths and Laws: Changing Institutions of Indigenous Marine Resource Management in Central America.- Lessons Drawn from Burden Sharing Exercises. The EC Acidification and Climate Change Policies.- Social Learning at the Science-Policy Interface — A Comparison of the IPCC and the Scientific Assessments LRTAP Convention.- Conclusions.- Institutional Change in Environmental Contexts.- About the Authors.

About the Author :
Dr. Heiko Breit, Deutsches Institut für internationale pädagogische Forschung, Frankfurt a.M., Germany; Dr. Anita Engels, Institut für Weltgesellschaft, Fakultät für Soziologie, Universität Bielefeld, Germany; Dr. Timothy Moss, Institut für Regionalentwicklung und Strukturplanung (IRS), Erkner, Germany; Dr.Markus Troja, MEDIATOR GmbH, Oldenburg, Germany.