多中心的环境治理外文文献翻译.docx

多中心的环境治理外文文献翻译.docx

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多中心的环境治理外文文献翻译

多中心的环境治理外文翻译2019-2020

英文

Theblackboxofpowerinpolycentricenvironmentalgovernance

T.H.Morrison，W.N.Adger，etc

Abstract

Failuretoaddressunsustainableglobalchangeisoftenattributedtofailuresinconventionalenvironmentalgovernance.Polycentricenvironmentalgovernance—thepopularalternative—involvesmanycentresofauthorityinteractingcoherentlyforacommongovernancegoal.Yet,longitudinalanalysisrevealsmanypolycentricsystemsarestrugglingtocopewiththegrowingimpacts,pace,andscopeofsocialandenvironmentalchange.Analyticshortcomingsarealsobeginningtoappear,particularlyinthetreatmentofpower.Herewedrawtogetherdiversesocialscienceperspectivesandresearchintoavarietyofcasestoshowhowdifferenttypesofpowershaperulesetting,issueconstruction,andpolicyimplementationinpolycentricgovernance.Wedelineateanimportantandemergingresearchagendaforpolycentricenvironmentalgovernance,integratingdiversetypesofpowerintoanalyticalandpracticalmodels.

Keywords:

Polycentricgovernance,Environmentalgovernance,Power

1. Introduction

Globalenvironmentalchangeisawickedchallenge:

non-reducible,variable,andcomplex.Itisalsoanurgentproblem—failuretoprogresstheUnitedNationsSustainableDevelopmentGoals（SDGs）,forinstance,couldpermanentlycompromisefinitenaturalresourcesandinterandintra-generationalwell-being.Whilethereisgeneralagreementthatavertingunsustainablechangeisdesirable,socialandpolicyresponsesareoftenconstrainedbylimitedcapacityandthefactthatsingleactorsorsingularapproaches—whethertopdownorbottomup—cannoteffectivelytacklesuchproblems.Socialandpolicysolutionsneedtobeexperimental,adaptive,distributed,andmulti-scale（Loorbachetal.,2017; Ostrom,2010a; PattbergandWiderberg,2016）.

Environmentalgovernancestructureshavebroadenedinresponsetosuchcomplexityandinterdependency,fromtop-downcentralisedapproachestodecentralised,community-based,orpolycentricarrangements,incorporatingnotjustprinciplesofefficiencybutalsothoseofequity,legitimacy,andaccountability（LemosandAgrawal,2006）.PolycentricgovernancestructuresinparticularhavebecomepopularwithanalystssinceElinorOstrom’sreflectionsin2010onthefailureoftopdownsolutions（Ostrom,2010a）.

Theconceptof polycentricgovernance isbestunderstoodwhenjuxtaposedwithmonocentricgovernance（Ostrometal.,1961）.Anideal-type monocentric systemisonecontrolledbyacentralpredominantauthority（e.g.acomprehensivegovernmentalauthorityorprivatemonopolyresponsibleforallgoodsandservices）.Bycontrast,a polycentric systemcomprisesmultiplegoverningauthoritiesatdifferentscaleswhichdonotstandinhierarchicalrelationshiptoeachotherbutareengagedinself-organisationandmutualadjustment（Ostrom,2010a）.

Polycentricsystemsareattractivetoawidevarietyofinterestsinthattheyallowformorepolicyinnovationanddiffusionacrossmultipleorganisationalunits,whetherthrough“hard”regulationor“soft”instrumentssuchaseconomicincentives,voluntaryagreements,self-regulation,andsustainabilitycertification（Jordanetal.,2013, 2015）.Advocatessuggestthatthisformofgovernancecreatesnewopportunitiesformultipleactorsatmultiplelevelstotakeresponsibilityforinitiatingandimplementingsustainabilityandresiliencesolutions（CarlisleandGruby,2017; PattbergandWiderberg,2016; Steffenetal.,2018）.Polycentricgovernanceisalsounderstoodtoprovidemoreopportunitiesforrepresentationofdifferentsocialactorsthanmonocentricgovernance.Assuch,itsinclusivitycanbeviewedasamorelegitimateformofgovernance.Inprovidingopportunitiesforinnovationandexperimentationacrossmultipleorganisationalunits,polycentricgovernancecanalsoenablethedevelopmentoftailor-madesolutionsthatarefitforpurpose（Lebeletal.,2006）.Itadditionallyprovidesalevelofflexibilityandnimblenessthatmaynotbepossibleintraditionalhierarchies.Furthermore,polycentricgovernanceisregardedasmorerobust:

whenonepartofthesystemfailstherearemultipleotherpartsabletostepin（Ostrom,2010b）.

Whilenotapanacea,polycentricismholdsmuchpromiseforsolvingthemultiplegovernancechallengesofenvironmentalchange（AligicaandTarko,2012; AnderssonandOstrom,2008）.However,newresearchonpolycentricgovernanceisalsochallengingnormativeprescriptions,somewhatcontroversially（Gallemore,2017; Sovacooletal.,2017; Sunderlinetal.,2015）.Inmanycases,polycentricgovernancesystemsarestrugglingtocopewiththegrowingrisksofrapidsocialandenvironmentalchange（Jordanetal.,2018）.Documentedproblemsincludehightransactioncosts,inconsistencies,freeloading,unanticipatedeffects,gridlock,andultimateimplementationfailure（Morrisonetal.,2017）.Anewstrandofenvironmentalpolicyscienceisalsobeginningtohighlighthowtheconceptofpolycentricityisplaguedbyinherentcontradictionsandassumptions,andthatsomebiggapsinknowledgeremain.Powerdynamicshavebeenhighlightedasoneofthesegaps（Morrisonetal.,2017）,alongsideassumptionsaboutpolicyexperimentation（Huitemaetal.,2018）,lackofunderstandingoffeedbacks（BerardoandLubell,2019）,andlimitedevaluationofeffectiveness（SchoenefeldandJordan,2017）.ThecentralfocusofthisPerspectiveisthepronouncedlackofanalysisoftheroleofpower.

InthisPerspective,wedefinepowerastheunevencapacityofdifferentactorstoinfluencethegoals,process,andoutcomesofpolycentricgovernance.Wearguethatwhileitisaxiomaticthatallgovernance（whethermonocentric,integrated,decentralised,orpolycentric）involvesunevenpowerdynamics,manystudiesofpolycentricgovernanceprovideonlypartialanalysesoftheinitialdesignortheemergentstructureofpolycentricsystems,ignoringunevenpowerdynamicsorrelegatingthemtobeingexogenoustothesystem.Intherarecaseswherepowerishighlighted,weshowthatanalysestendtofocusonthepotentialnegative effects of（higher-level）power;theyrarelyhighlighttheprocessnorthepositiveoutcomesofpowerfulsteeringor“orchestration”（Abbott,2017）.Wearguethatscientistsandpolicymakerscanimprovetheirabilitytoexplainandenhancetheenvironmentaloutcomesofpolycentricsystemsbyre-conceivingpolycentricgovernancenotjustasastructuralsolutionoradiagnosticbutalsoasasetofdiverseinstitutions,agencies,andothersocialactorsinfluencedbypower-ladensocialrelationships.Distillingthepowerdynamicsinherentinpolycentricgovernancewillthusbeacriticalstepinmovingfrompolycentricgovernanceasaconcepttopolycentricgovernanceasatheoryandpracticeforaddressingglobalenvironmentalchange.Weconcludebyhighlightingfutureresearchneedswhicharedependentonapower-centredanalysis.

2. Thepowergapinpolycentricgovernanceandwhyitmatters

Allgovernanceinvolvespower:

morepowerfulactorsreceivemorefavourableoutcomesthanlesspowerfulones;equalityandfairnessarerare.However,whilemanyanalystsofpolycentricgovernancehaveoftenacknowledgedpowerdynamics,theyhavenotdirectlyaddressedhowpowerdynamicscanchallengeorreinforcepolycentricgovernancesystems（AgrawalandOstrom,2006; Mansbridge,2014）.Asaresult,studiesofpolycentricenvironmentalgovernanceoftenremainsnapshotanalysesofonlytheinitialdesignortheemergentstructureofpolycentricsystems,withpost-hocanalysisofpowerdynamicsoftenrelegatedtoanexplanatorypostscriptabout“ablackboxofpolitics”or“thelackofpoliticalwill”.Forexample,showsthatwhiletherehasbeenadramaticriseofscientificinterestinpolycentricenvironmentalgovernancesinceElinorOstrom’sinfluential2010 GlobalEnvironmentalChange article,scientificinterestinthepowerdynamicsofpolycentricgovernanceisonlynowemergingasanimportantfieldinitsownright.

Thereareavarietyofreasonswhythepowergappersistsinpolycentricenvironmentalgovernance.Thecomplexityandmessinessofpolycentricsystemsmeansthatpowerdynamicsarehiddenmoreeffectivelythaninothergovernancetypes;theyaredifficulttoobserve,toughtodefine,slipperytomeasure,trickytogeneraliseabout,andchallengingtomanage（Sovaetal.,2016）.Scientists,policymakers,andpractitionersworkingattheinterfacebetweentheapplicationofscienceandpolicycanalsofindpowerdynamicssensitiveanduncomfortable,andthereforemayoftendeliberatelyorinadvertentlyoverlookthem.

Oversightofpowerdynamicsalsohasitsrootsindisciplinarydivisionsandtrends.Forexample,whileimportantstrandsofpoliticalsciencehavefocusedonthestrategiesofpowerfulactorsindrivingandaddressingglobalchange（suchastheWorldTradeOrganisation,theUnitedNations,theUnitedStates,andmultinationalcorporations）（Nye,2008）,theseinsightshaveoftenremainedseparatefromthepolycentricenvironmentalgovernanceliterature,whichtendstofocusonthediffusionofpoweracrossgroupsofactors（withthenotableexceptionofAbbott（Abbott,2017; AbbottandBernstein,2015））.Thebiastowardsdiffusepoweralsoreflectsthebroadergovernanceliterature,whereresearchersinthekeyfieldsofAmericanfederalismandEuropeanUnion（EU）studies（Feiock,2013; HoogheandMarks,2003; Scharpf,2006）,politicalscience（CrookandManor,1998）,publicpolicyandadministration（BevirandRhodes,2006）,andinstitutionaleconomics（Ostrom,2010b）,havespentmanyyearsexploringthediffusionofpowerawayfrompowerfulsoleactorssuchasacentralisedgovernmentalauthority.Andasablyilluminatedby Partzsch（2017