Just why, how and when should more participation lead to better environmental policy outcomes? A causal framework for analysis

Activity: Talk or presentationConference PresentationsResearch

Ed Challies - Speaker

Collaborative environmental governance and the participation of citizens and stakeholders in public environmental decision-making is increasingly promoted on the basis that it can improve environmental outcomes relative to traditional, top-down decision-making. At the same time, it is also recognized that participatory approaches may have unintended negative environmental outcomes. As different fields of study have contributed a variety of claims as to the relationship between participation and the environment, the existing literature – while substantial – tends to be weak on causal mechanisms, and gives rise to several logical contradictions.

This paper seeks to distil causal assumptions from the existing literature, and integrate them into a consistent framework of testable hypotheses. We incorporate claims from fields such as political science, public administration, legal studies, social psychology, environmental studies, decision science, mediation and conflict resolution. We present a causal framework in the form of clusters of what have emerged as core hypotheses from the literature. These hypotheses address the relationship between participation and (a) the environmental standard (quality) of outputs, and (b) the implementation of outputs (i.e. the effect of participation on environmental outcomes and impacts). We disaggregate these hypotheses as far as possible, with the aim of isolating causal relations between important variables in the policy process such as participation and acceptance, knowledge, deliberation etc. We explore the main causal mechanisms between these variables, and locate relevant context variables such as conditioning and process factors, teasing out the often implicit assumptions on which each hypothesis is built. This way, we not only spell out and clarify the hypothesized causal mechanisms between participation and environmental outcomes and impacts, but also identify conditions under which participation may lead to better (or worse) environmental outcomes.

We argue that identification of the most important hypotheses on the relationship between participation and effectiveness is an important first step in generating and consolidating robust evidence on the ‘instrumental’ value of participatory modes of environmental governance. Such evidence should be of relevance to a wide range of researchers in the field of participatory governance, and of practical use to those that must balance environmental and democratic imperatives in designing environmental policy and conducting participatory governance processes.
03.07.2015

Event

International Conference on Public Policy 2015

01.07.1504.07.15

Milan, Italy

Event: Conference

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Crises at Work: Potentials for Change?
  2. Can a Revision of the Universal Service Scope Result in Substantive Change?
  3. Discourse pragmatics
  4. Short-arc measurement and fitting based on the bidirectional prediction of observed data
  5. Industrial applications using wavelet packets for gross error detection
  6. Trait-based approaches to analyze links between the drivers of change and ecosystem services
  7. Understanding Context Collapse for Social Media Users
  8. Understanding the modes of use and availability of critical metals-An expert-based scenario analysis for the case of indium
  9. Shepherds’ local knowledge and scientific data on the scavenging ecosystem service
  10. Using Long-Duration Static Stretch Training to Counteract Strength and Flexibility Deficits in Moderately Trained Participants
  11. A Computational Research System for the History of Science
  12. Extending Enterprise Architectures for Adopting the Internet of Things
  13. Digital teaching as an instrument for cross-location teaching networks in medical informatics
  14. Adaptive capacity and learning to learn as leverage for social-ecological resilience
  15. Model and Validation of the Electromagnetic Interference Produced by Power Transmission Lines in Robotic Systems
  16. Creep behavior of AE42 based hybrid composites
  17. Structure as Infrastructure: The Interrelation of Fiber and Construction
  18. Program for Better Riding
  19. Trust in scientists, risk perception, conspiratorial beliefs, and unrealistic optimism
  20. Gender, Space and Development: An Introduction to Concepts and Debates
  21. Development and validation of chemometrics-assisted spectrophotometry and liquid chromatography methods for the simultaneous determination of the active ingredients in two multicomponent mixtures containing chlorpheniramine maleate and phenylpropanolamine hydrochloride.
  22. Digital identity building:
  23. NFDI4DS Shared Tasks
  24. Disentangling who is who during rhizosphere acidification in root interactions: combining fluorescence with optode techniques
  25. Does ESG performance have an impact on financial performance?
  26. Implementing UNESCO's Convention on Cultural Diversity at the regional level
  27. Differences in psychological strategies of failed and operational business owners in the Fiji Islands
  28. Standing Still
  29. The unadaptable fellow
  30. Collaborative business in supply chains - a system dynamics approach
  31. Robust Control using Sliding Mode Approach for Ice-Clamping Device activated by Thermoelectric Coolers
  32. Landscape modification and habitat fragmentation: a synthesis
  33. The Application of Extended Producer Responsibility in Germany
  34. Correlation between Isometric Maximum Strength and One Repetition Maximum in the Calf Muscle in Extended and Bended Knee Joint
  35. Supporting non-hierarchical supply chain networks in the electronics industry
  36. Feel the Music! Exploring the Cross-modal Correspondence between Music and Haptic Perceptions of Softness
  37. Extending Internet of Things Enterprise Architectures by Digital Twins Exemplified in the Context of the Hamburg Port Authority
  38. Tier