Dear all,

I am very pleased to invite you to the next Governance and Sustainability Seminar which will welcome Professor Andy Stirling (Science Director of the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex) on 18 November at 5pm in the Westminster Forum, 5th Floor, 32-38 Wells Street, London, W1T 3UT

 Andy will give a seminar talk entitled "Opening up the politics of sustainability: reconciling science, participation and power".

 Abstract: Current debates over more sustainable technologies and policies are pervaded by apparent tensions between 'sound scientific' and 'participatory' approaches to informing decision making. A range of contending perspectives on public engagement emerge: (1) as an instrumental means to justify particular outcomes or secure greater public trust and acceptance; (2) as a normative matter of democratic legitimacy (alternatively seen as 'political correctness'); or (3) as a substantive challenge concerned with the validation and elaboration of the notion of 'sustainability' itself - and its implications for more 'precautionary' technology choices. In all these modes, strong contrasts are drawn with practices of 'science' and 'evidence based' assessment.

This talk will explore these tensions and draw attention to some of the underlying commonalities between the roles of both science and participation in policy making for sustainability. It will argue that there are some important but neglected practical characteristics of both scientific and participatory approaches to technology and policy appraisal, which cross-cut the usual divides between expert and citizen, quantitative and qualitative, analytic and deliberative. In short, both may be conducted such as alternatively to 'open up' or 'close down' the domain of conditionally-viable options in decision making. Rather than pursuing either 'expert analytic' or 'participatory-deliberative' approaches at the expense of the other, the paper will conclude that greater attention needs to be given in both areas to the aim of 'opening up' the essentially political nature of sustainability. It is only in this way that we can reconcile the essential and demanding imperatives both of scientific rigour and democratic accountability.

Date:        Tuesday 18 November
Location:   Westminster Forum, 5th Floor, 32-38 Wells Street, London, W1T 3UT.
Time:        5pm - 6.30pm (reception to follow)

 All welcome.

 

More details about our seminar series can be found at:

http://www.westminster.ac.uk/sshl/page-3637