Making democratic sense of sociotechnical transitions for sustainability Workshop: Politics

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Making democratic sense of
socio-technical transitions for
sustainabilityWorkshop Politics Governance
in Sustainable Socio-Technical Transitions

• Dr Carolyn Hendriks
• School of Business and Government
• University of Canberra
• carolyn.hendriks_at_canberra.edu.au

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Some democratic questions

• who should be included/excluded in transition
  arrangements?
• how should transition arrangements and their
  outcomes attain legitimacy and secure public
  accountability?
• how should they function vis-à-vis existing
  institutions of representative democracy?
• how do actors understand and experience the
  relationship between transition processes and
  democracy?

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Some democratic concepts

• Democracy
• requires that those affected by decisions should
  have an equal opportunity to participate in, and
  affect decisions
• Legitimacy
• recognition (by those affected) that a decision,
  policy or institution has authority
• Accountability
• process whereby decision makers and institutions
  are held to account for their actions (and
  in-actions) by those affected

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For some democratic answers

• Transition Theory not explicit on democratic
  matters
• Transition practice
• In-depth case study - Dutch Energy Transition
  Program (ETP)
• interpretive policy analysis
• 27 interviews secondary materials
• Explore discourse and narratives
• on policy making process
• on democracy

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Transition management as a policy discourse

• partly managerial but rejects modernist ideals
• attempts to do things differently
• the transition concept is ambiguous thereby
  appealing
• new institutional arrangements and partnerships
• especially in energy reform steering energy
  transitions
• Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ) with 6 other
  ministries

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From Dutch Ministry for Economic Affairs, 2004
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Institutional map of Dutch energy policy
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From Dutch Ministry for Economic Affairs, 2004
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Making democratic sense of TMgt in practice .

• From the perspective of those involved
• democratic storylines ideas on what constitutes
  a democratic, legitimate and accountable
  decision, policy or institution
• espoused theories the democratic norms that
  individuals claim to hold
• 2. From the perspective of democratic network
  governance

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1. Dominant democratic storyline

• transitions are about innovation, not democracy
• epistemic matters privileged over democratic
  matters
• draws heavily on TMgt theories
• e.g. participants should be visionaries,
  forerunners, open-minded, autonomous

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Key threads of the dominant storyline (i)

• Knowledge
• A chair of one platform
• for the right solutions we need the right
  knowledge.
• Leadership coordination
• A member of the taskforce
• What we need are competent people who know the
  area of industry... and technically know whats
  going on...such that they have sufficient weight
  as a group be able to push this forward.
• Public involvement is not necessary or can wait
• issues too complex for the public
• citizen tend to focus on short terms
• citizens will be involved as citizens

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Key threads of the dominant storyline (ii)

• Democratic institutions myopic and inhibit
  innovation
• Energy Taskforce (2006 33)
• Staying on course to a future that is more than
  one generation distant cannot be done by a
  government that changes direction and colour
  every four years due to the nature of its
  structure. A politically-independent and
  authoritative monitoring and boosting function
  is required that supports government in holding
  on to long term visions and staying on course
• Accountability managerial effective long term
  transitions
• Legitimacy outputs
• Espoused theory technocracy/elite theory

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Storyline 2 Transitions within a representative
democracy

• transitions need democratic consent - but this
  comes later
• citizens want others to solve these complex
  issues
• 1st elites advise the government
• 2nd decisions made by elected representatives
• Accountability through periodic elections
• Legitimacy inputs and outputs
• Espoused theory representative democracy

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Storyline 3 Transitions with stakeholders

• all key players and society included
• directly eg. group representatives
• indirectly eg. deliberation on behalf of others
• Accountability group representatives held
  accountable by their constituents
• Legitimacy inputs all relevant interests
  included
• Espoused theory interest group
  pluralism/neo-corporatism

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Understanding TMgt as a mode of network
governance

• Network governance coordination of
  interdependent actors from public, private and
  societal sectors for the purposes of developing
  and implementing public policy.
• PROBLEM performs poorly against the norms of
  liberal democracy
• participants mostly autonomous with no formal
  links to constituents
• HOWEVER, some suggest networks could potentially
  deepen democracy
• networks could make democracy more participatory,
  deliberative, and plural
• Studies of network governance reveals the
  tensions between networks and the broader
  democratic context

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Steering socio-technical change in a democratic
context
TMgt as a mode of network governance in a dynamic
landscape
Programs to steer socio-technological change
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Facilitating socio-technical transitions in a
dynamic democratic context

• Institutional solutions
• embed governance structures in institutions of
  rep democracy
• anchor governance structures to politicians
  (Sørenson and Torfing 2005)
• Inclusive solutions
• ensure democracy of the affected (Eckersely,
  2000 Young, 2000)
• affirmative action of underrepresented or
  marginalised groups
• monitor equality of outcomes
• Publicity solutions
• connect the public to issues (Latour, 2005
  Warren, 2002)
• Participatory solutions
• faciltate empowered forms of public participation

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Key Messages

• Any attempt to steer socio-technical change
  requires attending to
• democratic consequences of transition
  arrangements and policies
• e.g. who will make decisions on behalf of whom,
  and how will they secure legitimacy and public
  accountability?
• the impacts of dynamic democratic systems on
  transitions
• e.g. how can transition arenas co-exist
  productively alongside other sites of democracy,
  most notably institutions of representative
  democracy?

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Broader implications

• TMgt represents a powerful set of ideas for
  sustainability policy
• But it does pose some particular challenges for
  democracy
• Knowledge
• balancing epistemic and democratic concerns
• Sharing power with whom
• engaging elites to legitimise and stimulate
  change possibility at the expense of broader
  public empowerment
• Representation
• creative and autonomous participants versus
  group representatives
• democracy of the affected but whos affected
  and by how much?
• Discursive
• technocratic approaches legitimised in a climate
  of urgency

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From Dutch Ministry for Economic Affairs, 2004
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Making democratic sense of
socio-technical transitions for
sustainabilityWorkshop Politics Governance
in Sustainable Socio-Technical Transitions

• Dr Carolyn Hendriks
• School of Business and Government
• University of Canberra
• carolyn.hendriks_at_canberra.edu.au