Reflexive Governance for Sustainable Development

1. Reflexive Governance for Sustainable Development René Kemp (based on J-P Voss and R. Kemp) Presentation at ISDRC TCSR Symposium June 6-8, 2005 in Helsinki Special session on Transdisciplinary Case Study Research for Sustainable Development

2. Everything gets better except for life itself Reflexive modernisation (Beck): society being busy with self-created problems Reflexive Governance for Sustainable Development

3. Choice of goals and solutions Governance Unintended system consequences Traditional governance : always reactive Dealing with self-created problems

4. Sustainable development asthe “wholly grail”– A trojan horse?

5. Not a trojan horse • Sustainable development as a new way of problem framing in which there is a reflecting on wants, causal links with attention to long-term system effects • The governance system associated with this is reflexive governance

6. Reflexive governance • Is about the organisation (modulation) of recursive feedback relations between distributed steering activities • Reflexivity as self-confrontation(in which governance sees itself to be part of the dynamics to be governed)

7. Aspect Aspect of of System System analysis analysis Goal formulation Goal formulation Strategy Strategy Problem Problem implementation implementation treatment treatment Specific Specific Co Co - - evolution evolution of of Uncertainty Uncertainty and and Path Path - - Sustainability Sustainability Capacities Capacities to to problem problem heterogenous heterogenous ingnorance ingnorance dependency dependency of of goals involve goals involve influence influence features features elements elements about about structural structural value trade value trade - - offs offs , , transformation transformation across across multiple multiple transformation transformation change change , high , high are endogenous are endogenous are distributed are distributed scales scales (society, (society, dynamics dynamics and and societal impact societal impact to to transformation transformation among actors among actors technology, technology, effects effects of of ecology ecology ) ) intervention intervention Strategy Strategy Trans Trans - - Experiments Experiments Anticipation Anticipation of of Iterative Iterative Interactive Interactive require require - - disciplinary disciplinary and and adaptivity adaptivity long long - - term term participatory participatory strategy strategy ment ment knowledge knowledge of of strategies strategies systemic systemic goal goal development development production production and and effects effects of of formulation formulation institutions institutions measures measures Strategies for Reflexive governance

8. ENDOGENOUS SYSTEM STRUCTURING CONSTRAINTS: AND RESTRUCTURING CULTURAL FRAMES, SOCIAL Anticipa ti on INSTITUTIONS, PHYSICAL STRUCTURES AND TOOLS ACTORS, their ACTOR knowledge, power and STRUCTURING: authority rela tions, role PROCESS relationships, and control STRUCTURING over resources, including physical structures and GROUP on tools FORMATION Anticipation SOCIALIZATION Anticipation Transdiscip linary Particiatory goal knowledge formulation production Interactive strategy EXOGENOUS development FACTORS Concrete DECISIONS AND Truly exogenous factors ACTIONS including those w hich INTENDED Material conditions, AND concern maintaining or changing ext ernal agents, larger UNINTENDED cultural frames, rule systems, group socio - cultural context EFFECTS IN formation, and socialization of which are given MATERIAL, actors SOCIAL AND CULTURAL Strategic WORLDS Adapted from adapted from Burns, Flam 1987 Experiments

9. Transition management …. is a deliberate effort to work towards a transition in a stepwise, adaptive manner, utilising dynamics and visions … a “journey to the South” in which different visions and routes are explored: system innovation and optimisation

10. Societal goals Political margins for change Existing policy process: short-term goals (myopic) State of development of solutions Sustainability visions Transition management: oriented towards long-term sustainability goals and visions, iterative and reflexive (bifocal) Transition Management: bifocal instead of myopic

11. Organizing a multi- actor network Developing sustainability visions and transition-agendas Evaluating, monitoring and learning Mobilizing actors and executing projects and experiments The cyclical, iterative nature of transition management

12. Mathematicallytransition management = current policies + long-term vision + vertical and horizontal coordination of policies + portfolio-management + process management. ... is bottom-up and top-down, using strategic experiments and control policies

13. Biomass Policy Renewal New Gas Sustainable Rijnmond Eff. Energy Chains Areas of interest in the Energy transition

14. Biomass 20-40% of primary energy supply ‘Vision’ ‘Strategic goals’ 10-15% in power prod. 15-20% in traffic 2020 A. Gasification B. Pyrolysis ‘Transition Paths’ Expv 2 à 3 % C. Biofuels Exp 2003 EOS EOS : experiments : R&D Exp 2050

15. No choice is made as to what the energy system should be • Different routes are investigated • Decisions are made in an interative way • Support is temporary • Each option has to proof its worth • Technology choices are made at the decentralized level

16. All five strategies are part of transition management • Integrated knowledge production on problems and their dynamics, including different scientific disciplines and practice perspectives • Adaptive strategies and strategic experiments to actively deal with uncertainty • Systematic anticipation of long-term and indirect effects e.g. through explorative foresight exercises • Iterative, participatory formulation of governance objectives, taking account of diverse and changing social values • Interactive strategy development by actors with various sources of influence

17. Efficacy paradox The efficacy paradox refers to the contradicting requirements of opening-up and closing-down(of problem space, solution space and governance) in social problem-solving processes.  Strategies for opening up need to be complemented with appropriate strategies to reduce complexity and achieve stable strategies

18. Conclusion • Transdisciplinary problem-solving helps to work towards SD • It fits with reflexive governance • But for transitions in functional systems much more is needed (in the way of some kind of transition management).