Agency in earth system governance: refining a research agenda

Abstract

In the face of global environmental change, a key question for the social sciences is how to organize the co-evolution of societies and their natural environment. In this context, a new long-term research program, the Earth System Governance Project, proposes several key issues to be examined: architecture, agency, adaptiveness, accountability, and allocation and access. The contributions to this special issue have focused on the analytical problem of agency. For example, they have examined newly emerging or understudied agents of global environmental governance, or offered a fresh assessment of agency in the context of existing governance mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism. This concluding article outlines several insights provided by the contributions to this special issue regarding four key questions underlying the study of agency in global environmental governance. First, they call attention to the ingredients or processes that characterize agency in the first place and thus distinguish actors from agents. Secondly, the authors highlight the differences among agents and how they interact with each other. Thirdly, they point toward variation in the ways that agents may acquire authority. Finally, the contributions to this special issue suggest that there may be several approaches to evaluating agency, with different consequences. Thus, taken together, the contributions to this special issue provide a starting point for broadening our understanding of agency in earth system governance.

Sustainable futures: Multi-disciplinary perspectives on multi-level transitions

“…Earth system governance is multi-layered and fragmented. It covers not only problems of the 'global commons', but also local problems from air pollution to soil degradation and involves a myriad of public and private non-state actors at all levels of decision-making (Biermann, 2007;Dellas et al, 2011).…”

Governing Harmonious Human Engagement with the Spatial Capital

“…To create a synergistic environment for the development of space, governance processes require radical changes in bureaucratic approaches and traditional land use regulations. To increase the intellectual and social capital, governance should put special emphasis to increase the skills and knowledge of residents, develop intangible assets, such as inclusion, tolerance, public participation, and democratic governance, in the community [52][53][54]. Inclusiveness requires governance systems to listen to all voices.…”

Governance of global climate change in the Brazilian Amazon: the case of Amazonian municipalities of Brazil

“…They also examine the various sources of authority that agents draw upon and identify five broad bases of authority for global governors -institutional, delegated, expert, principled, and capacity-based authority (Avant et al 2010, 10). Dellas et al (2011), however, question who are the ones that actually perform the tasks involved in governing, and indicate that consent is not the only source of authority and legitimacy. For them, agency is defined by the capacity of individual and collective actors to change the course of events or the outcome of processes once this capacity is based on authority and not force (Pattberg andStripple 2008, 273-274 apud Dellas et al 2011, 87).…”

“…Two concepts will be used to frame the discussion: one is the concept of "governors" (Avant et al 2010): authorities who exercise power across the border for purposes of affecting policy. The other is "agent" (Schroeder 2010, Dellas et al 2011: actors who have the ability to prescribe behavior. Based on these concepts, the article will analyze to what extent it is possible to view these actors as agents in the process of climate governance and how they interact to create issues, set agendas, and establish and implement rules.…”