Indicator development as "boundary spanning" between scientists and policy makers

In sustainability impact assessments the development of widely accepted indicators that structure the subject area and provide the framework for assessing sustainability impacts is clearly important. We argue that the development of sustainability indicators in science-based initiatives works across the science/policy interface where social and natural scientists as well as stakeholders and policy-makers both translate concepts and ideas to each other and thus make value judgments about the selection of indicators and related sub-classes. This explains why pure scientific indicator initiatives based on simple ‘knowledge transfer’ models are unlikely to succeed. Instead, sustainability indicator development requires a ‘knowledge transaction model’ which spans the boundary between the scientific and the political domains

Research trends: Orchestrating forest policy-making: Involvement of scientists and stakeholders in political processes.

Introductory paper to the Special Issue on \u201cOrchestrating forest policy making: Involvement of scientists and stakeholders in political processes\u201d. Brief conceptual introduction and explanation that the special issue is based on the results from the COST Action FP 1207 in forest policy named ORCHESTRA and the working group (WG) 3, dedicated to researching different pathways to better orchestrate forest-related policies in Europe. Researchers in WG 3 have been concerned with the different means for organizing a participatory policy process involving scientists and stakeholders. The special issue disseminates results from one literature review and ten case studies focusing on the following questions related to participatory forest-related governance: What are the most effective means for participatory forest-related policy processes involving scientists and stakeholders? What are efficient methodologies for developing, implementing and monitoring multi- stakeholder-based forest-related policies? Which factors hinder or support the establishment and implementation of effective participatory forest-related processes involving scientists and stakeholders? The paper also provide an overview of Authors' names and contents of each paper included in the Special Issue

Developing Durable Infrastructures: Politics, Social Skill, and Sanitation Partnerships in Urban India -super-1

Accelerated national and international efforts to redress the acute lack of infrastructures in the developing world have focused on forging partnerships to spur infrastructure development. This article finds a sore lack in attempts to grasp how infrastructures implemented through multiactor partnerships within entrenched, often volatile, political environments, become durable. Durability is understood here through field analysis, an approach common within the "new institutional" literature. Two case studies of sanitation infrastructure-making from cities in India are presented as empirical evidence. Failure of the first case and the success of the second in acquisition of durability clearly illustrate the vital role political strategy plays in making infrastructures durable. Copyright 2009 by The Policy Studies Organization.