i guess our listserv software won't do forwarded material, so here is the text. In a message dated 10/29/2007 12:28:28 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
ST friends -- thought some of you might be interested in this thread from another listserv that occasionally gets active around research methods on sustainable behaviors. We just had the first meeting of our Cayuga Sustainability Council last Thursday, and I found it interesting to see that it is citizen-driven efforts in other areas that are providing the most momentum for change. Gay Hi Margaret, I think you're right about the quotes taking too narrow a view of influence and governance, and I like all of your comments below. But the solutions and opportunities to this problem are not intuitive to me. I'll briefly explain why and maybe people on this listserve can help me. I recently finished my PhD dissertation, titled THE POLITICS OF RELIABILITY: A SOCIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE STATE OF VERMONT'S RESPONSE TO PEAK OIL & CLIMATE CHANGE. Part of the abstract reads: The thesis that Vermont, the "greenest state in the country," is not acting reliably to help its citizens prepare for, mitigate against, or adapt to peak oil and climate change was largely borne out over the course of interviews with high ranking government employees, as well as nonprofit employees. Despite being the "greenest state in the country," Vermont creates, in the words of one interviewee, "a dull tool," for dealing with problems. Except for domain consensus that climate change is a problem, the majority of the characteristics of "high reliability organizations"-'big picture' communication and coordination, decentralized decision-making, extensive training, aggressive information seeking, and strong leadership-are not apparent in Vermont's response to peak oil and climate change. This dissertation explains how the environment of organizations (e.g., sunk costs), organizational characteristics (e.g., combinations of resources and schemas), and the cognitive practices of individuals within organizations (e.g., political ideologies) undermines the characteristics of high reliability organizations. This research can arguably lead to the conclusion that Vermonters and others should not expect much help addressing peak oil and climate change from their government. These problems seem intractable in the current context (e.g., the state needs new leadership and resources). Hence, it lends credence to the argument that community-based efforts (i.e., 'we're on our own') and engagement processes should be explored with greater urgency. However, my experiences in this state give me the impression that community efforts and nonprofit efforts (including the fact that I work for a nonprofit) can also be characterized as unreliable, given the scale of these problems- and neither have anywhere near the resources of the government. I guess I was hoping at the end of this dissertation process that I would have solutions or recommendations to boost the reliability of responses. But I'm struck with the notion that A) the federal government has abdicated responsibility for dealing with peak oil and climate change B) state governments are taking the lead, but if Vermont is any indication, state responses can be characterized by their unreliability C) "sub-political" forces, including nonprofits and citizen driven efforts have a role to play, but each of these types of organizations is typically strapped for cash and limited in effectiveness D) Individual efforts are poo-pooed as ineffective and meaningless in the big scheme of things I guess at a molecular level we're all just stocks and flows of energy and everything's a wash at that level. I'm probably exaggerating my level of frustration and depression at this point, but I'm stumped. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Margaret Kilvington Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 6:00 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [IntSci] Politics of Engagement - quotes Hi Margaret Kilvington here, I have been away for some time and now back in the office, I have been making my way steadily through this facinating conversation. Thank you all for the wealth of interesting ideas. I have not got through all yet, and so may be responding out of turn - but I would like to make some comments on my own response when I read the attached quotes. How I read these is that Daniel Fox and Lynn Carson are both suggesting there should be no processes that seek to foster participation, dialogue and collective meaning making (fundamentals in deliberative democracy) unless they are also tied to mainstream governance - ie why meet when you have no influence? I question here whether this is taking too narrow a view of influence and governance. Processes outside conventional decision-making arena are indeed hampered when it comes to direct influence on matters firmly cast in that context. Yet, I would argue engagement processes that are designed to build the democratic capacity of communities may give birth to informal (but none-the-less influential) arrangements, and may lead to shifts in informal power. Sure - there is nothing so likely to backfire than disingenuous acts of 'citizen engagement', I am sure we all have examples of this. But I would argue that processes of citizen engagement within standard governance arrangements are more likely where capacity has been built within the community. The case for such processes may be harder to establish, being outside standard remits of governing agencies, and yet paradoxically for the same reasons they may be easier to achieve. kind regards Margaret Will Allen 25/10/2007 [Moderators note: I have been away for a few days so missed that this message - and these nice quotes - did not get to all of you. It was originally posted on 9 October by Valerie Brown.] These quotes seem worth sharing - Professor Daniel M. Fox, President Emeritus of the Milbank Memorial Fun Citizen Engagement and the Politics of Policy "My thesis is that citizen engagement can help to devise more effective policy only if occurs in the context of the way politics is normally done in particular democratic countries. And a corollary: citizen engagement based on new forms of governance that ignore or seek to change the normal political context corrupts citizens, leads to policy that is sham or failure, and weakens the ability of political professionals to use the institutions they struggle to command to make purposive improvements in health." Dr Lyn Carson, Senior Lecturer in Applied Politics, United States Studies Centre Trusting citizens as policy reformers "Dozens of case studies now exist which demonstrate that citizens make excellent deliberators in the area of policy making. These deliberations take the form of mini-publics or microcosms of the wider community. I will argue that public participation practitioners should boycott the facilitation of mini-publics unless the third ideal of deliberative democracy is realised. The three ideals are representativeness, deliberation and influence. The latter is crucial and requires trust in the abilities of typical citizens. Sadly, it is the ideal which is least likely ever to be realised. As a consequence, policy makers are seriously weakening the democratic fabric." -------------- next part -------------- Margaret Kilvington Social research for environmental management Landcare Research PO BOX 40 Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand Tel: 0064 3 321 9999 DDI: 0064 3 321 9714 FAX: 0064 3 321 9998 http://social.landcareresearch.co.nz -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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