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Upcoming

Democratizing Climate Governance
15-16 July 2010, The Australian National University, Canberra

Climate change poses considerable challenges to democracy. Its global nature questions the traditional parameters of our political communities and moral responsibilities. Its complexity and urgency challenge the capacity of existing democratic procedures to produce effective outcomes. Transnational institutions and processes developed so far for mitigating and adapting to climate change often elude basic democratic values. Decisions on whether, where, and how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are generally made by elites in spatially and temporally distant settings, thus undermining the legitimacy of such decisions. Meanwhile, those most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change tend also to be, in many cases,  the most socially disadvantaged and democratically disempowered. In this context, a key concern for scholars and citizens alike is how to ensure that the people who will be affected by climate change and climate governance are represented in decision-making processes. More effective democracy is likely to be instrumental to climate justice. The purpose of this conference is to examine these challenges and explore potential avenues for democratizing climate governance. We invite proposals that address issues of accountability, representation, participation, and legitimacy, as well as the appropriate roles of national and transnational institutions, civil society, scientists, scholars, communities, and citizens confronted with issue complexity. Climate governance manifests in various forms and at various levels, as such we invite papers concerned with public, private, and hybrid modes of governance at local, national, and/or global levels. Understanding and responding to the democratic challenges posed by climate change will require advances in theory as well as empirical research, and we welcome papers that fall into either or both of these categories. Papers that approach the challenge from a discursive or deliberative perspective are especially encouraged, however we welcome a range of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives.

 

Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society - Copenhagen Symposium
Friday, 11 December 2009, University of Copenhagen

Introduction and Overview of the Handbook, by John Dryzek. (Click here for symposium program.)

 

Past

• Analysing Collaborative & Deliberative Forms of Governance
  14 November 2008, The Australian National University, Canberra (click here for details)

 

• Theory and Practice of Deliberative Democracy
  2-Day Workshop, 7-8 February 2008, The Australian National University, Canberra (click here for details)

 

• Dialogue Across Difference: Governance in a Multicultural Era
  2-Day International Conference, 4-5 December 2006, The Australian National University, Canberra (click here for details)
  

 

 

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