Facing the tragedy of change in the semiotic process : the role of science

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552We offer an interpretation of the concepts of integrity and quality of science based on semiotics. Science is a key component of the semiotic process in society, its role being the selection of representations of relevant events for guiding policy with the ultimate goal of preserving society's identity. The fitness of scientific information depends on the definition of its usefulness and relevance, and, therefore, on the identity of the 'self' of the semiotic process. Several distinct definitions of identity co-exist that are negotiated across levels (individuals, households, communities). Growing feelings of belonging to a post-truth world signal a failure in the preservation of the integrity of the semiotic process: scientific crises are coupled with social and political crises in an impredicative way. It is concluded that science should evolve from being a mere source of facts to a source of insights about how to deal with the tragedy of change

Investigating science for governance through the lenses of complexity

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552This paper assesses the contributions of complexity theory to post-normal science. The oversupply of facts in science for governance is explained as a matter of complexity, defined as irreducible pluralism in the knowledge base. The paper shows how complexity provides an interface to engage with the multiple facts of science through three different examples. First, water narratives are used to show how different scales of analysis produce contradictory scientific representations of the same system. Second, smart electricity grids are assessed to demonstrate how different levels of uncertainty are associated with different representations. Third, the case of slum upgrading is used to discuss the need to take into account stakes in science for governance

Precise Yet Uncertain: Broadening Understandings of Uncertainty and Policy in the BPA Controversy

Bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the most studied and most controversial chemicals used by the food packaging industry, because of its endocrine disruptive properties. Part of the controversy is due to the uncertainty that surrounds the effects of BPA on the endocrine system. Uncertainty includes data gaps, methodological hurdles, incompatibilities between toxicology and endocrinology-based approaches, and so on. In this article, we analyze how uncertainty has been conceptualized and treated. We focus on the European Food Safety Authority assessments of BPA, and study how exposure and hazard assessments have evolved over time, how uncertainty has been analyzed, and how the agency responded to controversies. Results show that in the attempt to reduce knowledge gaps, assessments have become progressively larger, including more references, evidence, and effects. There is a tendency toward greater precisions and specification of results, and toward protocolization of all processes included in the assessment (from literature review, to uncertainty assessments, and public consultation). Yet, the uncertainty has not diminished following the increase in evidence. We argue that the strategy used to reduce uncertainty within risk assessment, namely including more variables, studies, data, and methods, amplifies the uncertainty linked to indeterminacy (as more results increase the fragmentation of the knowledge base due to the open-ended nature of complex issues) and ambiguity (as complexity gives way to multiple nonequivalent interpretations of results). For this reason, it is important to consider different types of uncertainty and how these uncertainties interact with each other.publishedVersio

The Legitimacy Crisis of the Economic Paradigm

The financial crisis that started in 2008 is explained in terms of a series of normalisations, which pooled together prime and subprime mortgages, assets and debts, private and public debt. Such practices spread risk to the financial system as a whole and drastically reduced the information available. As a consequence, capital accumulation was achieved independently of whether the added value was real or virtual. The financial crisis illustrates the limits of normal science, that is, the dramatic simplification of the perception of the external world associated with the adoption of narratives referring to a single scale and a single dimension. Reduced diversity in the input of information combined with the inherent instability of financial markets results in the systemic presence of high uncertainty. In this situation, technical knowledge does not have the means to deal with, or control, the crisis and thus cannot guide decision making. The limits of technical knowledge can be observed in the worsening of the crisis, which is affecting the whole economic sector and leading to increasing unemployment and political delegitimation throughout Europe. This paper suggests an alternative interpretation of the financial crisis based on the insights offered by hierarchy theory. A multi-scale approach is used in order to identify the changing function of the financial sector at different scales of analysis and the transmission mechanisms through which rent-seeking practices at the individual level result in systemic instability at the societal level

Indicator development as a site of collective imagination? The case of European Commission policies on the circular economy

In recent years the concept of the circular economy gained prominence in EU policy-making. The circular economy promotes a future in which linear ‘make-use-dispose’ cultures are replaced by more circular models. In this paper, we use the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to ask how an imaginary of circularity has been assembled and stabilized, which imaginative resources were drawn on, and how goals, priorities, benefits and risks haven been merged with discourses of innovation, sustainability and growth. Drawing on policy documents and interviews with policy officers of the European Commission, we argue that the monitoring framework and indicator development function as a site collective imagination in which desirable ‘circular’ futures are co-produced. These futures are imagined to provide novel opportunities for the private sector and to generate jobs and economic growth while at the same time improving the natural environment as measured by selected environmental indicators.publishedVersio

Més enllà dels indicadors "Més enllà del PIB"

El 2007, diversos organismes van llançar la iniciativa "Més enllà del PIB", que pretenia avaluar problemes complexos com el benestar social, la sostenibilitat i el desenvolupament econòmic utilitzant més indicadors, i que va resultar en una producció massiva d'indicadors de sostenibilitat. Els autors d'aquesta investigació suggereixen que és necessari adoptar una actitud reflexiva en relació a les decisions normatives que determinen l'elecció de disciplina, models i indicadors usats per així millorar la qualitat de la informació científica usada en la presa de decisions.En 2007, diversos organismos lanzaron la iniciativa "Más allá del PIB", que pretendía evaluar problemas complejos como el bienestar social, la sostenibilidad y el desarrollo económico utilizando más indicadores, y que resultó en una producción masiva de indicadores de sostenibilidad. Los autores de esta investigación sugieren que es necesario adoptar una actitud reflexiva en relación a las decisiones normativas que determinan la elección de disciplina, modelos e indicadores usados para así mejorar la calidad de la información científica usada en la toma de decisiones.In 2007, various organisations launched the "Beyond GDP" campaign, which aimed to assess complex issues such as social welfare, sustainability and economic development using more indicators, and which resulted in an overwhelming production of sustainability indicators.The authors of this research suggest the need to adopt a reflective attitude towards the policy decisions determining the choice of discipline, models and indicators used in order to improve the quality of scientific information used in decision making processes

Nou enfocament per a l'anàlisi de la controvèrsia no resolta sobre l'energia nuclear

Un equip d'investigadors de l'ICTA-UAB ha desenvolupat un nou enfocament per estudiar les controvèrsies sobre la governança de les tecnologies, centrant-se en el cas de l'energia nuclear, una de les tecnologies més controvertides i, al mateix temps, més desplegades dels últims 60 anys. Segons els investigadors, la controvèrsia sobre l'energia nuclear pot ser entesa com una sèrie de desajustos entre les expectatives i l'experiència, resultat del desafiament de fer front als alts nivells d'incertesa inherents a aquesta tecnologia.Un equipo de investigadores del ICTA-UAB ha desarrollado un nuevo enfoque para estudiar las controversias sobre la gobernanza de las tecnologías, centrándose en el caso de la energía nuclear, una de las tecnologías más controvertidas y, al mismo tiempo, más desplegadas de los últimos 60 años. Según los investigadores, la controversia sobre la energía nuclear puede ser entendida como una serie de desajustes entre las expectativas y la experiencia, resultado del desafío de hacer frente a los altos niveles de incertidumbre inherentes a esta tecnología.A research team from ICTA-UAB has developed a new approach to study controversies over technology governance, applied to the case of nuclear power, which has been one of the most controversial and, at the same time, largely deployed man-made technology over the past 60 years. According to the researchers, the controversy over nuclear power can be understood as a series of mismatches between expectations and experience. These mismatches are the result of the challenge of dealing with the high levels of uncertainty inherent to this technology

Complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity : Implications for European Union energy governance

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Energy security is an ambiguous concept. Growing academic interest has aimed at defining, conceptualising and measuring energy security, often through indicators. Energy policy in the European Union (EU) is not concerned with energy security's ambiguous conceptualisation, nor does it use energy security indicators, but it refers consistently to security as one of its primary aims. In this paper, by analysing the use of energy security both in scientific publications and in EU policy, we argue that the ambiguity of the concept plays a function in the policy process and is only seen as a problem in the academic literature. Building on the uncertainty literature, we conceptualise ambiguity as the type of uncertainty that emerges from complexity. Complexity leads to the existence of multiple representations of a system, which may serve different purposes in the policy process, generating ambiguity. Uncertainty is mobilised to frame energy policy as a matter of security. This has implications for the science-policy interface: on one hand, the analysis suggests that science's aim of providing holistic assessments and clarifications may not serve its desired instrumental purpose in policymaking; on the other, ambiguity allows for materially ineffective policy measures to persist in the name of energy security

Food, energy or biomaterials? Policy coherence across agro-food and bioeconomy policy domains in the EU

The European Union (EU) envisions a shift towards a bioeconomy to address challenges such as reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, managing natural resources sustainably and food security. As a result, biomass will become an increasingly important resource in the bioeconomy. This will require careful and sustainable management especially because biomass comes from a wide variety of economic sectors and is governed by different policies. The bioeconomy will, therefore, require coherence between many different policy domains. However, little is known how policy goals in these domains interact and how these interactions may play out in different contexts. Hence, this study aims to assess coherence between bioeconomy and agro-food policies by assessing the interactions between bioeconomy and agro-food goals (i.e. trade-offs, synergies) as well as revealing knowledge gaps. Utilising qualitative content analysis, a survey and focus groups, we find that bioeconomy policy goals and agro-food policy goals are largely considered to be consistent, when considering coherence scores only, and that synergies outweigh trade-offs, both in quantity and in strength. However, all bioeconomy policy domains show some trade-offs with agro-food policy. We furthermore find disagreement (i.e. range of scores) and uncertainty in scientific knowledge-base, particularly concerning waste and bio-based industry. Disagreement surrounds the feasibility of some policy goals, such as decoupling economic growth from the environment. We conclude that a shift towards a bioeconomy will have to acknowledge the interactions between different policy goals across the different sectors and avoid ‘silo-thinking’. This can be achieved through addressing vagueness in policies and allowing integrated policies to embrace uncertainty.publishedVersio

The role of metrics in the governance of the water-energy-food nexus within the European Commission

Abstract Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in both academia and policy. This concept draws attention to the link between different environmental and societal domains, and potentially entails substantive shifts in governance processes. As a consequence, policy-makers and scientists have started to develop metrics to make these interactions and ‘trade-offs’ visible. However, it is unknown if current framings of the nexus and relevant quantified metrics either reinforce or challenge existing governance structures. This paper explores relationships between framings of the nexus, metrics and models of governance based on discussions with staff within the European Commission. Although narratives around the need for new metrics are situated in a conventional script about the use of evidence to change policy, our data indicate processes of co-production, by which the use (or non-use) of any new metrics is dependent on existing institutional practices; and will reflect dominant political orderings. In doing so we provide a critical analysis of the role of metrics in environmental governance, and direct attention to the discursive, institutional and political arrangements in which they are embedded and with which they are co-constitutive. Focusing on the cultural and institutional settings in which they are established and used, our study suggests that the question of metrics in the water-energy-food nexus needs to be explored as a problem of establishing a legitimate policy objective in the European Commission and EU policy-making more broadly.publishedVersio