Suchergebnisse

Der Verfasser gibt zunächst einen kurzen Überblick zur historischen Entwicklung der Technikfolgenabschätzung seit Beginn der siebziger Jahre. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden zwei exemplarische Technikfolgenabschätzungen vorgestellt, die in Deutschland zur Energiepolitik durchgeführt wurden. Hierbei geht es zum einen um die Evaluation der biologischen Wasserstofferzeugung, die als überzeugendes Beispiel für die Möglichkeiten einer in der Frühphase eines Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprojekts durchgeführten Technikfolgenabschätzung gewertet wird. Das zweite Beispiel betrifft das Projekt IKARUS, das sich auf die Reduzierung der CO2-Emissionen bezieht. Stärken und Schwächen beider Projekte werden herausgearbeitet. Abschließend werden Dimensionen eines interaktiven, eine Vielzahl von Akteuren einbeziehenden Ansatzes der Technikfolgenabschätzung skizziert. (ICE)

How does steering for sustainability work within the world of contemporary politics, where roles are increasingly ambiguous and power dispersed? This paper explores this question empirically by studying the practice of reflexive governance - a mode of steering that encourages actors to scrutinize and reconsider their underlying assumptions, institutional arrangements and practices. The practice of reflexive governance has been conceptualized in various ways: as a strategic process of opening up and closing down, as a state-led activity of facilitating socio-technological transitions, and as a mode of network co-ordination to promote system innovation. What all these accounts underplay is the political context of reflexive processes, and the politics that they generate. This paper offers an alternative conceptualization of reflexive governance that situates sites of reflexivity within a broader discursive system composed of multiple arenas, actors and forms of political communication. Applying this framework to a Dutch case study reveals a host of struggles involved in enacting reflexive governance, particularly as actors try to reconcile the demands of reflexivity (being open, self-critical and creative) with the demands of their existing political world (closed preferences, agenda driven, control). The analysis sheds light on the work - and indeed politics - involved in legitimizing more reflexive modes of governing for sustainability.

How does steering for sustainability work within the world of contemporary politics, where roles are increasingly ambiguous and power dispersed? This paper explores this question empirically by studying the practice of reflexive governance - a mode of steering that encourages actors to scrutinize and reconsider their underlying assumptions, institutional arrangements and practices. The practice of reflexive governance has been conceptualized in various ways: as a strategic process of opening up and closing down, as a state-led activity of facilitating socio-technological transitions, and as a mode of network co-ordination to promote system innovation. What all these accounts underplay is the political context of reflexive processes, and the politics that they generate. This paper offers an alternative conceptualization of reflexive governance that situates sites of reflexivity within a broader discursive system composed of multiple arenas, actors and forms of political communication. Applying this framework to a Dutch case study reveals a host of struggles involved in enacting reflexive governance, particularly as actors try to reconcile the demands of reflexivity (being open, self-critical and creative) with the demands of their existing political world (closed preferences, agenda driven, control). The analysis sheds light on the work - and indeed politics - involved in legitimizing more reflexive modes of governing for sustainability.

The Dutch animal production sector faces significant pressure for change. We discuss a project for the design of a sustainable husbandry system for pigs. Named after the Greek hero Hercules, the project aimed for structural changes in both animal and crop production. However, instead of changing the course of the river, the project ended up merely adapting its flow. The Hercules project ran into difficulties typical for projects aiming at reflexive modernization. It relapsed from an effort for reflexive modernization to ecological modernization, by ultimately leaving the structural features of the sociotechnical regime intact. We show how this resulted from the biases and limitations implied by existing institutions, in which the project was unavoidably embedded. We introduce the idea of reflexive design, as "doing" reflexive modernization, which implies working on action and structure at the same time. A number of recommendations are given for reflexive design projects like this.