Otto-Suhr-Institute of Political Science

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• Department of
  Political and Social Sciences
• Otto Suhr Institute of
  Political Science

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• About the FFU
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• Policy Assessment Group
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    • Policies for a Green Economy
    • Policy Impact Assessment
    • Politics and policy change
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Politics and policy change

Why and how does environmental and sustainability policy change? What factors facilitate or limit policy change? These are the questions we deal with in the field “politics and policy change”. We analyze the decision-making processes, relevant contextual factors and above all the actors involved in decision making, their capacities and preferences.

Strategies in Environmental Policy: One of our foci is the assessment and development of strategies for solving environmental problems in different policy sectors. Often single regulatory mechanisms are not sufficient to solve environmental problems. This is because the causes of these problems and therefore the causes of action lie on different political levels, in different jurisdictions or depend on the capacities of non-state actors. Hence, numerous  different actors are involved in environmental decision making. In this context, a strategic approach can facilitate to coordinate, implement and monitor the actions of relevant actors.

One the one hand we analyze the effects of existing strategies and identify the determinants of their success and failure. On the other hand we use this knowledge to improve / facilitate strategy processes in the field of environmental policy, e.g. the development of guidelines for strategy development.

Environmental Capacities and Pioneering: In how far do specific institutional arrangements of political systems facilitate or limit environmental policy change? Why are some countries or regions pioneers with regard to environmental and sustainability policy while others are lacking behind? These are key questions in our research area on "politics and policy change". We develop indicators to compare environmental policies of different States and to identify environmental pioneers. Moreover, we conduct theory-driven studies to analyze the impact of institutions and procedural aspects on policy change and pioneer countries.

Sustainability Governance: Under the heading of “Sustainability Governance” we conduct basic research on political processes and institutions. In particular, we consider the role of policy learning for promoting sustainable development. How can learning processes be organized and how can knowledge management within institutions be improved? How can reflexive decision-making be established in order to promote sustainability? Furthermore, we analyze and compare the design and diffusion of institutional and procedural innovations in the sphere of environmental and sustainability governance. 

 

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