2 ESRC Centre 'Linked' Studentships in Environmental Social
Science
Applications are invited for two ESRC 'linked' Centre
studentships which are available in the RAE 5* School of
Environmental Sciences at the UEA, Norwich:
1. Multi-level Environmental Governance in the European
Union supervised by Dr Andrew Jordan and linked to the
CSERGE. http://www.uea.ac.uk/env/all/studentships/60.htm
2.Social Capital and Adaptation to Climate Change
supervised by Dr Neil Adger and linked to the Tyndall
Centre For Climate Change Research.
http://www.uea.ac.uk/env/all/studentships/61.htm
The 'linked' studentships scheme is designed actively to
involve postgraduates in the research activities of the two
centres (see: http://www.uea.ac.uk/env/cserge/ or
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/).
The studentships will commence on 1 October 2002. They can
be undertaken either on a '1+3' or a '+3' only basis
depending on whether the successful applicant has already
received ERSC recognised postgraduate training. Applicants
must also satisfy the ESRC's standard academic and
residential eligibility requirements
(http://www.esrc.ac.uk/esrccontent/postgradfunding/index.asp).
Application forms and further particulars are available on
the School website
(http://www.uea.ac.uk/env/all/studentships/) or from the
Science Postgraduate Studies Office, UEA, Norwich NR4 7TJ.
Telephone (01603)593002, Fax (01603) 593035 or e-mail
[log in to unmask] . The deadline for both is: 10 June 2002.
FURTHER PARTICULARS: 1
ESRC Centre 'Linked' Studentship: "Multi-level
Environmental Governance in the European Union"
Supervisor: Dr Andrew Jordan
Host ESRC Centre: CSERGE, UEA.
Summary
In a policy sphere such as the environment that exhibits
many features of multi-level environmental governance, an
important but surprisingly under-researched question is
what is the optimal level of governance to take decisions?
This project will describe and explain the current
allocation of environmental policy functions across the
many levels of governance in the European Union.
Applicants should possess a very good first degree (i.e. a
IIi or a I) and, ideally, also a Masters degree in
political science, policy analysis, human geography,
environmental studies, European studies or similar. The
studentship will be an integral part of the ESRC Programme
on Environmental decision-making within the CSERGE
(http://www.uea.ac.uk/env/cserge/about/pedm.htm). Informal
inquiries should be directed to: Dr. Andrew Jordan in the
CSERGE (http://www.uea.ac.uk/env/cserge/). Tel: (00) (44)
(0)1603 592552; [log in to unmask]
Research plan
'Multi-level governance' (MLG) has emerged as an important
linking concept in the social sciences. Nowhere is the
shift to multi-level governance more apparent than in the
environmental sphere (Jordan, 1999; 2002). Thirty years
ago, almost all environmental policy decisions were made at
the national or local level. Supranational governance was
relatively under-developed. Today, decisions are allocated
across multiple levels, including many international bodies
such as the United Nations, the European Union and the OECD
(Hooghe and Marks, 2001). The growing popularity of
devolution in many countries including the UK has further
accentuated the shift to a more multi-levelled system of
environmental governance.
However, the ad hoc and incremental process through which
environmental policy functions (or tasks) are dispersed
across different levels of governance has created a
confusing and very messy pattern of overlapping
responsibilities (Weale, 2002). In the EU (which is the
most important source of UK policy), the overall pattern of
activities displays a number of striking inconsistencies,
which does not consistently follow a clear overriding logic
(Jeppesen, 2002). Thus, some overwhelmingly 'sub-national'
issues such as bathing water, urban air quality and access
to environmental information, are highly supervised by EU
authorities, even though they have little do with the
functioning of the common market and do not involve
significant transfers of pollution across borders. At the
same time, the EU is too weak to supervise genuinely
international problems such as climate change (Weale,
2002). In the past, many governments have sought to achieve
a more 'rational' allocation of tasks by repatriating tasks
back to the national level (e.g. during the EU's great
subsidiarity debate of the early 1990s), but these efforts
failed to achieve a significant re-allocation of existing
tasks (Jordan, 2000), although the legal definition of
subsidiarity was clarified and proposals for new
legislation have to be better justified. Consequently, the
overall allocation of tasks across levels remains confusing
and manifestly sub-optimal for some policy actors.
Aims
It is widely appreciated that addressing environmental
problems at the 'wrong' level undermines the effectiveness
and legitimacy of environmental policy. It may also be
economically inefficient to do things at one level that
could be better performed at cognate levels. In a policy
sphere such as the environment which exhibits MLG, an
important but surprisingly under-researched question is
what is the optimal level of governance to take decisions?
The federal principle of subsidiarity (Føllesdal, 1998)
states that decisions should be taken at the lowest level
commensurate with effective action. However, subsidiarity
per se does not really explain how issues of policy
effectiveness, legitimacy and efficiency are or should be
reconciled (Jordan, 2000) when decision makers decide about
which level to act. There is a common presumption that
'international' problems should be addressed
'internationally', while 'local' problems should be tackled
'locally'. Reality, of course, is much more complex
(Jeppesen, 2002).
Objectives
Taking a number of specific issue areas such as water and
air pollution, biodiversity and climate change, which
involve the UK, the EU and supranational authorities in a
joint system of policy making, this project will:
· Describe how decision-making responsibilities in
these fields are currently allocated in the way that they
are; · Using theories of European integration, fiscal
federalism and democratic theory, explain why this pattern
has arisen; · Assess the 'optimality' of this pattern by
examining the extent to which it satisfies the preferences
of different policy actors, most notably national
government, environmental pressure groups, the EU and
industry; · Assess the scope for moving decisions
currently taken at the 'wrong' level to adjacent levels in
ways that are efficient, legitimate and environmentally
effective; · Make valid comparisons between the EU-UK
and more fully-fledged examples of multi-level governance
such as the USA and Germany, in order to assess the scope
for learning lessons.
Methods/techniques
The project will employ a mixed (i.e.
qualitative-quantitative) methodology. It will include: a
'process tracing' analysis of critical decisions in the
chosen fields, based on a documentary analysis and
interviews with key stakeholders; a quantitative analysis
of the allocation of decision-making responsibilities in
different domains across time and across space; a
environmental economic analysis of the extent to which
externalities are internalised under the current allocation
of tasks; a theoretically informed explanation of the
observed patterns. The student will be able to work
closely with members of the CSERGE, who regularly employ
these qualitative-quantitative methods in their own
research work.
FURTHER PARTICULARS: 2
ESRC Centre 'Linked' Studentship: "Social Capital and
Adaptation to Climate Change"
Supervisor: Dr Neil Adger
Host ESRC Centre: The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change
Research, UEA
Summary
The studentship will address the social and physical
dynamics of adaptation to climate change in
natural-resource dependent areas, based on emerging
theories of social capital inform collective action within
adaptation processes. The research will focus on southern
Africa. We seek a social scientist with a I or a Iii but
ideally, also a postgraduate degree in resource economics,
development studies or human geography. You should have
enthusiasm for interdisciplinary research. Contact: Dr.
Neil Adger in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change
research (http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/). Tel: (00) (44)
(0)1603 593732; [log in to unmask]
Research plan
The studentship will address the social and physical
dynamics of adaptation to climate change in
natural-resource dependent areas, based on emerging
theories of social capital inform collective action within
adaptation processes. The research will focus on southern
Africa. We seek a social scientist with strong analytical
skills and an excellent first or further degree in resource
economics, development studies or human geography with an
enthusiasm for interdisciplinary research.
Future climate change poses significant challenges for
society, not least in terms of how best to adapt to the
potential impacts to which the world is already committed.
It serves as a threat to the successful transition to
sustainable development in all societal contexts throughout
the world. Adaptation is a dynamic social process and the
ability of societies to adapt is determined in part by the
ability to act collectively. The PhD research will utilise
emerging perspectives on social capital and collective
action to gain insights from these areas inform the nature
of future adaptation capacity and direction. The research
will use analysis of national level data to illuminate
questions on the contested role of the state and
individuals in adaptation at a national scale and a case
study of local level autonomous adaptation and present day
collective action for coping with weather extremes in
dryland areas in southern Africa. It thus links with
ongoing research within the Tyndall Centre in its
Adaptation to Climate Change theme and will provide an
excellent training for a prospective interdisciplinary
social science researcher with a background in resource
economics, development studies or human geography.
The first part of the project will utilise the Tyndall
Centre database on national level indicators of adaptive
capacity and develop further insights into the nature of
vulnerability and the role of the state in facilitating
adaptation. In particular the student will focus on the
countries of the southern Africa region, where another
proposed Tyndall project will be examining local level
adaptation to the threats to livelihoods caused by recent
climate variability. In this first part of the project the
student will utilise documentary sources and archive
material as well as the database of indicators to construct
an historical narrative account of the policies and
measures by the countries in the region which have been
promoted security of livelihoods in the face of drought and
other risks, or produced maladaptation. This research will
therefore engage with the economic and political history of
coercion, food security and land tenure.
The second part of the research will establish and observe
actual processes and patterns of response to climate
changes. This part of the project will utilise the same
research resources (infrastructure and local contacts) as a
proposed Tyndall project to examine present day adaptation
within the context of specific natural resource-reliant
communities across the E-W climate gradient in southern
Africa, currently subject to irregular climate changes
differing in nature and magnitude. It will develop insights
on adaptation from present and recent historical
experience. This fieldwork-based component of the project
will illuminate the historical analysis and allow the
student to place local level insights in the contexts of
geographical and emerging social theories of collective
action as well as providing connections with the proposed
Tyndall strategic assessment of equity and justice issues
in adaptation.
__________________________________________________________
Dr. Andrew J. Jordan
Lecturer in Environmental Politics;
and Co-Editor, Environment and Planning C (EPC)
School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia (UEA)
Norwich
NR4 7TJ
United Kingdom (UK)
Tel: (00)(44) (0)1603 592552/593176
Fax: (00)(44) (0)1603 593739/250588
School Webpage: http://www.uea.ac.uk/env/
CSERGE Webpage: http://www.uea.ac.uk/env/cserge/
EPC (Government and Policy) Webpage: http://www.pion.co.uk/ep/
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