Search results

This article examines how situated knowledge produced by citizens affects the construction and understanding of legitimacy in local environmental governance. By scrutinising a case from Finland where local citizens decided to take lake restoration in their own hands, we demonstrate how legitimacy is constructed in a specific local context. The main concepts used to interpret this dynamic are situated knowledge (Haraway, 1988; Lang, 2011) and situated legitimacy (Connelly, Richardson, & Miles, 2006). The paper shows how the local traditions together with the historical and social context have distinct effects on the construction of situated knowledge. Further, situated knowledge not only frames the boundaries and possibilities of local action, but also shapes the interpretations of legitimacy. Approaching the construction of knowledge and legitimacy from this perspective challenges the customary understanding of context in participatory practices and, as we suggest, has also the ability to improve these processes.

For more than 10 years, I have had the privilege of being Vice President of STOA, the European Parliament's Science and Technology Options Assessment arm. During that time, I have been part of the team that has refocused STOA towards the crucial role of monitoring trends in science and technology, commissioning research to examine the implications for policy makers, and organising events to disseminate results.During the same period, my work as a legislator has made me more and more aware of the need to examine science and technological trends, in order to ensure that the legislation that we amend and approve is truly "fit for purpose". We are not afraid to recommend changes where we think that technological developments will make suggested provisions redundant or ineffective. To give a recent example, in our review of the Directive on Consumer Rights, we insisted on including new provisions to safeguard consumers buying faulty digital products or services. These were not included in the original text, but were subsequently agreed by the Member States and the European Commission.

Transition studies attempts to explain sociotechnical change over time and to develop policy prescriptions to help guide transitions towards more sustainable outcomes. While this literature has made significant contributions to our understanding of transitions and achieving greater sustainability, most transition theory and practice overlooks the central role of power in shaping the direction and outcomes of transitions. In this paper I apply the transitions framework to electronic waste (e-waste) management in South Africa, and assess the attempts to instigate and guide a transition through the establishment of an industry-led e-waste association. I use a relational–political–ecological approach in which I show how power is built relationally through particular engagements between members of the e-waste association and with others outside the association. I describe the attempts by the association to extend power and the strategies employed by members to resist or reconstruct this relationship. While stakeholders' concerns with the e-waste association are various, I focus on articulating their responses, specifically actions which revise their particular way of relating to the association. I group these into three main responses: (i) establishing a new connection or disengaging from the network; (ii) frustrated participation and/or reformed expectations; and (iii) establishing an alternative network. My analysis of relational power in the process of attempting to guide a transition is intended to show a new way of incorporating conceptualizations of power into transition studies to increase its theoretical rigour and enhance its potential to make positive contributions towards achieving a just sustainability.

Legal reforms throughout Latin America have increased the transparency of the criminal justice process and improved defendants' rights. Many scholars conjecture that such reforms also improve "good governance" and by extension economic development. Paradoxically, despite such assertions, there are few quantitative studies that examine the precise effect of such legal reforms. Using original data sets, the impact of Chile's criminal law reforms on the rights of criminals and economic development is tested. The results show that Chile's criminal law reform has enhanced defendants' rights by reducing the percent of individuals incarcerated. The reform has had a positive effect on regional economic activity, but little effect on foreign direct investment at the regional level.