Governing the Air: The Dynamics of Science, Policy, and Citizen Interaction

Chapter 12. Science–Policy–Citizen Dynamics in International Environmental Governance

12 Science–Policy–Citizen Dynamics in International Environmental Governance Rolf Lidskog and Göran Sundqvist This book focuses on the regulatory regime for measuring, sorting, and controlling airborne substances harmful to the environment and public health. In this regime, actors, instruments, practices, and ideas are drawn together to create clean air. By developing norms, rules, and knowledge, actors are expected to reduce emissions of harmful substances. What is seen as a “simple” international agreement—such as the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) and its protocols or the European Union (EU) air pollution policy—is only the tip of an iceberg. What seems to be a static and solid regulatory regime, guided by formal agreements, is the result of dynamic and unpredictable processes in which actors struggle to disseminate their understandings of the main causes of pollution and its relevant remedies throughout society. As emphasized in this book, European air pollution regulation is in transition. The relatively stable regulation of long-range air pollution is currently being challenged by organizational change, scientific advances, and new political priorities. The regulation is currently in a formative phase, and governmental bodies, nation-states, and expert communities are seeking new ways to establish further measures and more robust regulations. In these efforts, the relationships among science, policy, and citizens are pivotal. In this concluding chapter, we return to the book’s overall objectives: to evaluate the regulation of transboundary air pollution and to develop a theoretical understanding of the science–policy–citizen dynamic in international environmental governance. These two objectives are closely related. Without a theoretical understanding of the relationships among expertise, policymaking, and citizen involvement, it is impossible to analyze the trajectory of international air pollution–abatement efforts or their current status and future prospects. Likewise, improving our understanding of the dynamic relationship between science, policy, and citizens 324 Rolf Lidskog and Göran Sundqvist requires detailed empirical studies to reveal what in these processes leads to the regulation—or nonregulation—of transboundary issues. This book answers the urgent need for a better understanding of how regulation is shaped. The point of departure is the realization that regulation is dynamic and that various actors strive to influence regulatory processes. The empirical focus is on European regulation of transboundary air pollution, but the findings are also highly relevant to other areas of international environmental governance. Unlike several previous studies of transboundary regulation in general and of air pollution regulation in particular, this book delves more deeply into processes that render air pollution governable. It claims that the dynamics of this kind of regulation are underresearched, not least in terms of how various actors and processes influence each other. By focusing on processes rather than products, strategies rather than interests, learning rather than knowledge, this book provides a nuanced view of how air pollution is rendered governable. In addition, because this book does not view the field of international regulation as the object solely of nation-state policymaking (supported by scientific communities) but also includes the role of citizens, it contributes to the ongoing discussion of how to construct socially robust and trusted regulation. The introductory chapter presented three approaches to the study of international environmental governance: the institutional approach, the epistemic-community approach, and the science and technology studies (STS) approach. Each approach has its pros and cons, and although convergence between them is neither possible nor desirable, we believe that cross-fertilization is necessary to improve our theoretical understanding of the science–policy–citizen dynamic in international environmental governance. By bringing together contributions from the academic fields of international relations (IR) and STS as well as from other areas of social science, this book contributes to a broader and deeper understanding of the issue. This concluding chapter proposes new prospects for IR, not least in achieving a more dynamic conception of the science–policy–citizen interplay , which is highly relevant to deepening our understanding of European clean air policy efforts. It also aims to enrich the STS approach by relating it to IR findings and perspectives, thereby making the STS approach more suitable for the study of international environmental governance. In the second section, we turn our attention to the regulation of European air pollution and, based on findings from previous chapters, Science–Policy–Citizen Dynamics 325 evaluate its trajectory, current situation, and future challenges. After this empirically oriented section, we consider how to improve our theoretical understanding of...