Public participation refers most often to participatory political process of reclaiming interests, values and worldviews by social actors who are not professional or elected politicians. This chapter aims at reconsidering this form of expert representation, or civic epistemology, in relation to the tensions and reconfigurations of the Czech environmental movement and issues. The first part analyses the implications of the proposal for National policy for research development and innovation (2009-2015) and the second one discusses three cases of production and use of knowledge in three environmental knowledge production activities (urban ecology, rural and landscape ecology and conservation biology).
From the perspective of reflexive governance, this study probes into the transformative capacity and roles of government and civil society, and aims to determine how the authoritative developmental neo-liberalism state was challenged by civil society in democratization from the end of the 1980s, when it encountered a crisis of governance legitimacy. By analyzing the anti-petrochemical movement of the recent two decades, this paper recognizes the important historic line, and proposes that without innovative governance, a regime of expert politics with hidden and delayed risk will result in higher degrees of mistrust and confrontational positions by the public. In contrast to the government, local and civil societies are growing through the anti-pollution appeals of simple group protests into systematic and robust civic knowledge and strategic action. By administrative, legislative, judicial, and risk statement paths, such strategic mobilizations break through authoritative expert politics and reshape new civic epistemology. The process of reflexive governance is extremely radical. When two parties cannot commit to dealing with a high degree of mistrust, they will not be able to manage the more dramatic threat of climate change. Fundamentally speaking, a robust civil society will be an important driving power competing with government, in terms of constructing innovative governance.
The Fukushima nuclear disaster was profoundly a man-made one, resulting from the organizational failure of nuclear emergency preparedness. To fully understand the cause of this disaster, I propose to extend an organizational perspective on disasters into a macro-institutional perspective on disaster preparedness. To this end, I borrow from science and technology studies the concepts of "sociotechnical imaginary" and "civic epistemology" to probe the deepest layers of meaning-making constitutive of disaster preparedness. I then apply these concepts to the history of nuclear energy in postwar Japan that was centered on the developmental state pursuing industrial transformation. Specifically, I illustrate how the "pacifist imaginary" emphasized positive contributions of "the peaceful use of nuclear energy," legitimating a priori the promotion of nuclear power as a means of economic development; and how the "technocratic epistemology" invoked the superior competencies of state bureaucrats and expert advisers, legitimating post hoc their disregard for the possibility of a severe accident. The imaginary and epistemology thus enabled the developmental state to pursue pro-nuclear policy by securing acquiescence from the majority of citizens and discrediting the minority of antinuclear activists – until the earthquake and tsunami exposed the preparedness failure in March 2011.
How climate models came to gain and exercise epistemic authority has been a key concern of recent climate change historiography. Using newly released archival materials and recently conducted interviews with key actors, we reconstruct negotiations between UK climate scientists and policymakers which led to the opening of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in 1990. We historicize earlier arguments about the unique institutional culture of the Hadley Centre, and link this culture to broader characteristics of UK regulatory practice and environmental politics. A product of a particular time and place, the Hadley Centre was shaped not just by scientific ambition, but by a Conservative governmental preference for 'sound science' and high evidential standards in environmental policymaking. Civil servants sought a prediction programme which would appeal to such sensibilities, with transient and regional climate simulation techniques seemingly offering both scientific prestige and persuasive power. Beyond the national level, we also offer new insights into the early role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and an evolving international political context in the shaping of scientific practices and institutions.
How climate models came to gain and exercise epistemic authority has been a key concern of recent climate change historiography. Using newly released archival materials and recently conducted interviews with key actors, we reconstruct negotiations between UK climate scientists and policymakers which led to the opening of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in 1990. We historicize earlier arguments about the unique institutional culture of the Hadley Centre, and link this culture to broader characteristics of UK regulatory practice and environmental politics. A product of a particular time and place, the Hadley Centre was shaped not just by scientific ambition, but by a Conservative governmental preference for 'sound science' and high evidential standards in environmental policymaking. Civil servants sought a prediction programme which would appeal to such sensibilities, with transient and regional climate simulation techniques seemingly offering both scientific prestige and persuasive power. Beyond the national level, we also offer new insights into the early role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and an evolving international political context in the shaping of scientific practices and institutions.
This thesis has examined the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) controversy in Korea in terms of civic epistemology conceptualised by Jasanoff. The Korean BSE controversy occurred as a result of uncertainty over BSE being mobilised within complex political and economic contexts between Korea and the US, particularly over the issue of the import of US beef after 2003. The complexity of the interests impeded the Korean government from adopting a clear position on BSE risk in beef, and thus led to public distrust and massive public protests in 2008. The controversy demonstrated what I have called an authoritarian character of civic epistemology in Korea, such as the dominance of the government in knowledge production, public accountability limited to procedural form, and dependence on foreign authority. It can be ascribed to the traces of the development process which had been led by a powerful state and which relied on importing advanced countries' knowledge and skills. However, simultaneously, the controversy showed that this civic epistemology is in transition, challenged by a growing civil society and an increasing demand for public participation. In light of this, rather than a one-off phenomenon, the BSE controversy in Korea could be defined as a symptom of tension caused by friction between the ingrained approach to policy-making and increasing public awareness of democracy. This pattern of civic epistemology, I suggest, is a distinctive outcome of Korea's status as a latecomer country which has achieved compressed economic growth and recent political democratisation.
Drawing attention to today's epistemic crisis, this article seeks to reflect on the role of adult education in addressing this crisis and thereby fostering our democracies. We argue for the need of developing a new shared epistemic basis, a post-postmodern dialogic epistemology. This article presents three core components for this: (1) universalism and particularism, (2) embracing epistemic humility, and (3) seeking for dialogue and the public use of reason. Starting with recognizing the value of postmodern critiques on the Enlightenment ideas of rational thinking and its practices of rigid categorizations, we update key concepts of Enlightenment thinking, such as the power of judgment, human epistemic fallibility, and public reasoning. The modern value of the Enlightenment lies for us predominantly in the democratic educational project that it started. In this light, we see adult education as a (public) space dedicated to developing epistemic responsibility. ; Drawing attention to today's epistemic crisis, this article seeks to reflect on the role of adult education in addressing this crisis and thereby fostering our democracies. We argue for the need of developing a new shared epistemic basis, a post-postmodern dialogic epistemology. This article presents three core components for this: (1) universalism and particularism, (2) embracing epistemic humility, and (3) seeking for dialogue and the public use of reason. Starting with recognizing the value of postmodern critiques on the Enlightenment ideas of rational thinking and its practices of rigid categorizations, we update key concepts of Enlightenment thinking, such as the power of judgment, human epistemic fallibility, and public reasoning. The modern value of the Enlightenment lies for us predominantly in the democratic educational project that it started. In this light, we see adult education as a (public) space dedicated to developing epistemic responsibility.
AbstractFe MoncloaTeaching and Learning Participation: Latino Youth Civic Engagement in a High SchoolCivically and politically engaged Latino youth are the future for bolstering American democracy because Latinos are the fastest growing ethnic group in this nation, and they constitute more than half of the youth population in California. To support Latino youth civic participation, this study aims to understand high school organizational programs, practices, and policies that influence Latino youth civic engagement. This investigation is a comparative case study of the institutional factors that foster or impede high school Latino youth civic engagement. In this study I adopted Ogawa, Crain, Loomis, and Ball (2008) conceptualization of cultural-historical activity theory and institutional theory as an integrated framework and as a lens to describe and analyze four participation learning spaces, defined as spaces where youth have voice, influence and shared decision making. My observations and interviews were informed by an interpretivist and constructivist epistemology (Lincoln & Guba, 2000) and utilized ethnographic approaches . Data sources were comprised of 320 hours of participant observation field notes from October 2012 until November 2013, artifacts and interviews. I collected artifacts from the school and the school district. I conducted focused participant observation in two elective classes and two student clubs, and conducted formal interviews with 12 Latino youth from low-income families, 10 teachers, and two school administrators. I analyzed participant structures, goal mediated activity, and social interactions among teachers and youth, as well as youth peer processes that supported civic engagement.The findings of this study indicate that institutional pressures such as increased graduation rates and a focus on discipline, contributed to an absence of administrator leadership for civic engagement. Teachers who supported participation learning spaces had autonomy for the instruction and content of these spaces, and they exhibited organizational citizenship by giving the limited free time they had to support students' civic engagement. Teachers' style and choices, which were shaped by their training and personal experiences, influenced classroom or club climate, peer interaction, and pedagogy. This analysis is relevant to educators and administrators who wish to support Latino and diverse youth civic engagement in high schools, and for researchers interested in elective participatory learning environments.
Environmental issues in the twenty-first century have had diverse positions especially in the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary nature of the factors that allow their approach, understanding and explaining the socio-natural reality on a global and local level, becoming an indispensable factor for the construction of the environmental epistemology in this postmodern time. Due to this fact , in this essay we focus some ideas about the historical foundations that incorporate the theme of globalization, modernity, environmental soundness of Leff and sustainable development of the Brundtland report as an important international section to a variety of anthropogenic actions generated during the twentieth century that have contributed to alter the balance in the ecosystem dynamics. Besides, to recognize some problems Boff sets in "The Earth Charter" related to the overexploitation of resources, ecology, mercantilist thought, economist and predatory capitalist model that has not only affected the natural system but also the social system. For that reason it is that these reflections are held to have a holistic view between human-nature and society be implications for the dynamics of this new century based on ethical commitment with civic responsibility, participation and taking decisions in the field of politics, culture, economy, under the schemes of rationality that points towards the sustainability of the planet in all its dimensions.Finally with this text we recognize the role of education for building the environmental epistemology, the study of complex thought and the stage on which are new challenges to achieve the transformation of a civilizing model committed to nature, the earth planet "our common home" and human development. ; La temática ambiental en el siglo XXI ha tenido diversidad de posturas sobre todo por la interdisciplinariedad y multidisciplinariedad de los factores que permiten su abordaje, comprensión y explicación sobre la realidad socionatural a escala global y local, convirtiéndose en un ...
The article scrutinizes the impact of the 1968 student protests on architectural education and epistemology within the Italian and American context, the advocacy planning movement and the relationship of architecture and urban planning with the socio-political climate around 1968. It aims to demonstrate how the concepts of urban renewal and 'nuova dimensione' were progressively abandoned in the USA and Italy respectively. It presents how the critique of these concepts was related to the conviction that they were incompatible with socially effective architecture and urban design approaches. The article sheds light on the complexity of the reorientations that took place in both contexts, taking into consideration the impact of student protests, and the 1968 Civil Rights Action the architects and urban planners's task on the curricula of schools of architecture. It also investigates certain counter-events and counter-publications in the USA and Italy, shedding light on how they reinvented the relationship between architecture and democracy. It reveals the tensions between enhancing equality in planning process and local bureaucracy in the case of advocacy planning strategies. ; ISSN:2165-0020
Climate change policy is a prime example for the growing importance of expert ad-vice to inform decision‐making. Consequently, a plethora of advisory bodies and pro-cesses have emerged around the world. However, there are marked differences in the way the interactions between science and politics are organized and practiced depending on a country's political system and culture. The degree of political compe-tition, the role of state vis-à-vis non-state actors and the dominant modes of interest mediation provide specific conditions for the ways expertise is consulted and used in decision-making. Against this background, the paper presents the landscape of scientific advice in Austrian climate policy and asks in how far the traditionally strong culture of corporat-ism in Austrian politics manifests itself in practices of climate policy advice. Concep-tually, the paper draws on analytical dimensions derived from the concepts of "na-tional styles of policy-making" and "civic epistemology". Methodically it bases on an interview series and a workshop with representatives from science, politics, and in-termediary organizations. Our analysis provides a differentiated picture: the neo-corporatist culture still leaves its imprint in Austrian climate policy advice. But at the same time, the emergence of a new policy field, such as climate policy, undoubtedly opens up possibilities for new actors and forms of policy advice.
The exponential increase on the internet of indecent images of children (IIOC) has been followed by a transformation within criminal justice. The scale, nature and rapid technological evolution of such crimes—often of distant initial geographical origin—requires collaborative justice and harm reduction arrangements with internet companies and NGOs. The diminished reach (declining criminal justice interventions) and power (even in identifying crimes for intervention) of state authority with the current collaborative model, however, has resulted in inadequate social regulation and policing in response to IIOC crimes on the surface web. There is a considerable risk that the Online Harms White Paper proposals to establish overarching government authority to generally reduce harmful conduct will not fully resolve problems that go much wider than the technological, commercial and consumer protection on the surface web issues emphasised in that document. Only political choices about funding and fundamental rights compliant legislation can (a) prevent the hollowing out of criminal justice capacity and capabilities to deal with IIOC offenders and (b) ensure an essential compatibility and consistency in police operational ability—including the access sought to anonymised communication data via an encryption key—and legal principles when dealing with IIOC crimes across all levels of the internet, including 'the dark web'. These issues are examined as a case study in civic epistemology about the influence of neoliberalism in technologically focused policy making.
El contenido de este artículo tiene como referente la tesis doctoral sobre evaluación de competencias ciudadanas y la construcción de subjetividades, realizada como requisito de grado en el doctorado Sociología Jurídica e Instituciones Políticas de la Universidad Externado de Colombia.Se aborda la aplicación metodológica de la analítica socio-jurídica en el análisis crítico de los discursos y las prácticas oficiales sobre la formación ciudadana en Colombia. La implementación de esta analítica parte de la identificación de los determinantes ideológicos presentes en la concepción de competencias ciudadanas elaborada por el Ministerio de Educación Nacional de Colombia. Estos determinantes ideológicos están ligados a la concepción de la ética que desde la filosofía (Kant, 1993) la sociología (Durkheim, 2002), la psicología (Freud, 1993), la epistemología genética (Piaget, 1977), el desarrollo moral (Kohlberg, 1992) y la comunicación (Habermas, 1991), están presentes en los enunciados, discursos y prácticas sobre formación ciudadana.A partir del análisis de los determinantes ideológicos, se presenta una reelaboración del concepto de competencias ciudadanas que se constituye en un articulador de las variables presentes en el diseño de la matriz relacional para la alternatividad de la educación ciudadana, cuyo sentido está ligado con la elaboración de propuestas encaminadas a la implementación de nuevos modelos de educación ciudadana. Desde esta perspectiva, se presenta la investigación reseñada, como un referente para profundizar sobre los estudios de ciudadanía que se adelantan actualmente en Colombia y otros países de América Latina. ; The contents of this article is based on a doctoral thesis on the evaluation of citizen competencies and the construction of subjectivities, carried out as a requirement for the doctoral degree in Legal Sociology and Political Institutions of the Universidad Externado de Colombia. The methodology employed is sociological and legal analytic with regards to the critical analysis of official discourses and practices on civic education in Colombia. The implementation of this analytical component comes from the identification of the ideological determinants present in the conception of civic competencies developed by the Colombian Ministry of National Education. These ideological determinants are linked to the conception of ethics that, from philosophy (Kant, 1993), sociology (Durkheim, 2002), psychology (Freud, 1993), genetic epistemology (Piaget, 1977), moral development (Kohlberg, 1992) and communication (Habermas, 1991) are present in the statements, speeches and civic education practices. From the analysis of the ideological determinants, the article offers a reworking of the concept of civic competencies that constitutes an articulator of the variables in the design of the relational matrix for alternativity with regards to civic education, whose meaning is linked to the development of proposals for the implementation of new models of civic education. From this perspective, the following paper presents a reviewed research as a referent to deepen on civic studies underway in Colombia and other Latin American countries.
El contenido de este artículo tiene como referente la tesis doctoral sobre evaluación de competencias ciudadanas y la construcción de subjetividades, realizada como requisito de grado en el doctorado Sociología Jurídica e Instituciones Políticas de la Universidad Externado de Colombia.Se aborda la aplicación metodológica de la analítica socio-jurídica en el análisis crítico de los discursos y las prácticas oficiales sobre la formación ciudadana en Colombia. La implementación de esta analítica parte de la identificación de los determinantes ideológicos presentes en la concepción de competencias ciudadanas elaborada por el Ministerio de Educación Nacional de Colombia. Estos determinantes ideológicos están ligados a la concepción de la ética que desde la filosofía (Kant, 1993) la sociología (Durkheim, 2002), la psicología (Freud, 1993), la epistemología genética (Piaget, 1977), el desarrollo moral (Kohlberg, 1992) y la comunicación (Habermas, 1991), están presentes en los enunciados, discursos y prácticas sobre formación ciudadana.A partir del análisis de los determinantes ideológicos, se presenta una reelaboración del concepto de competencias ciudadanas que se constituye en un articulador de las variables presentes en el diseño de la matriz relacional para la alternatividad de la educación ciudadana, cuyo sentido está ligado con la elaboración de propuestas encaminadas a la implementación de nuevos modelos de educación ciudadana. Desde esta perspectiva, se presenta la investigación reseñada, como un referente para profundizar sobre los estudios de ciudadanía que se adelantan actualmente en Colombia y otros países de América Latina. ; The contents of this article is based on a doctoral thesis on the evaluation of citizen competencies and the construction of subjectivities, carried out as a requirement for the doctoral degree in Legal Sociology and Political Institutions of the Universidad Externado de Colombia. The methodology employed is sociological and legal analytic with regards to the critical analysis of official discourses and practices on civic education in Colombia. The implementation of this analytical component comes from the identification of the ideological determinants present in the conception of civic competencies developed by the Colombian Ministry of National Education. These ideological determinants are linked to the conception of ethics that, from philosophy (Kant, 1993), sociology (Durkheim, 2002), psychology (Freud, 1993), genetic epistemology (Piaget, 1977), moral development (Kohlberg, 1992) and communication (Habermas, 1991) are present in the statements, speeches and civic education practices. From the analysis of the ideological determinants, the article offers a reworking of the concept of civic competencies that constitutes an articulator of the variables in the design of the relational matrix for alternativity with regards to civic education, whose meaning is linked to the development of proposals for the implementation of new models of civic education. From this perspective, the following paper presents a reviewed research as a referent to deepen on civic studies underway in Colombia and other Latin American countries.
El contenido de este artículo tiene como referente la tesis doctoral sobre evaluación de competencias ciudadanas y la construcción de subjetividades, realizada como requisito de grado en el doctorado Sociología Jurídica e Instituciones Políticas de la Universidad Externado de Colombia.Se aborda la aplicación metodológica de la analítica socio-jurídica en el análisis crítico de los discursos y las prácticas oficiales sobre la formación ciudadana en Colombia. La implementación de esta analítica parte de la identificación de los determinantes ideológicos presentes en la concepción de competencias ciudadanas elaborada por el Ministerio de Educación Nacional de Colombia. Estos determinantes ideológicos están ligados a la concepción de la ética que desde la filosofía (Kant, 1993) la sociología (Durkheim, 2002), la psicología (Freud, 1993), la epistemología genética (Piaget, 1977), el desarrollo moral (Kohlberg, 1992) y la comunicación (Habermas, 1991), están presentes en los enunciados, discursos y prácticas sobre formación ciudadana.A partir del análisis de los determinantes ideológicos, se presenta una reelaboración del concepto de competencias ciudadanas que se constituye en un articulador de las variables presentes en el diseño de la matriz relacional para la alternatividad de la educación ciudadana, cuyo sentido está ligado con la elaboración de propuestas encaminadas a la implementación de nuevos modelos de educación ciudadana. Desde esta perspectiva, se presenta la investigación reseñada, como un referente para profundizar sobre los estudios de ciudadanía que se adelantan actualmente en Colombia y otros países de América Latina. ; The contents of this article is based on a doctoral thesis on the evaluation of citizen competencies and the construction of subjectivities, carried out as a requirement for the doctoral degree in Legal Sociology and Political Institutions of the Universidad Externado de Colombia. The methodology employed is sociological and legal analytic with regards to the critical analysis of official discourses and practices on civic education in Colombia. The implementation of this analytical component comes from the identification of the ideological determinants present in the conception of civic competencies developed by the Colombian Ministry of National Education. These ideological determinants are linked to the conception of ethics that, from philosophy (Kant, 1993), sociology (Durkheim, 2002), psychology (Freud, 1993), genetic epistemology (Piaget, 1977), moral development (Kohlberg, 1992) and communication (Habermas, 1991) are present in the statements, speeches and civic education practices. From the analysis of the ideological determinants, the article offers a reworking of the concept of civic competencies that constitutes an articulator of the variables in the design of the relational matrix for alternativity with regards to civic education, whose meaning is linked to the development of proposals for the implementation of new models of civic education. From this perspective, the following paper presents a reviewed research as a referent to deepen on civic studies underway in Colombia and other Latin American countries.
