Call for papers on "Puzzling and Powering over long term policy problems" at IPA 2013

Together with Martijn Vink, we're organizing a panel on "Dealing with Long Term Policy Problems: Making Sense of the Interplay between Puzzling over Meaning and Powering over Interests"  at the Interpretive Policy Analysis conference 2013 in Vienna.

Paper proposals can be submitted here: https://ipa2013.univie.ac.at/call-for-papers/ (panel 10). The deadline is February 28. Here's the call for papers:

Intrinsic uncertainty over future societies creates complex challenges for policy makers to defining what should be done today to adequately deal with problems of tomorrow. Uncertainty might amplify the ambiguity in societal understandings of what is actually at stake and how important this is to society. Accordingly, politicians and civil servants experience difficulties in developing policies for uncertain futures in plural societies, but long term characteristics of policy problems may also put politicians in the position of postponing painful policies by projecting them over multiple political cycles beyond the politicians’ accountability. Or policymakers may employ the future as a framing vehicle for telling stories and making promises which appeal to current societal concerns. Hence, the uncertainty and ambiguity which comes with long term policy problems may yield specific complexity in policymaking processes. Conflict or controversy are never far away, as we currently see in welfare state reforms across Europe, climate change policy from the global to the local level, or the developments in the European project as a whole. 

This panel aims at exploring the interface between two themes which are central to the IPA conference series: on the one hand processes of interpretation and meaning construction in uncertain and ambiguous societal contexts, and on the other hand the mechanisms of power at work in policy processes. Starting from the traditional notions on puzzling over the societal meaning to the problem, and powering over interests for getting things done (Hall 1993, Culpepper 2002, Heclo 2010), we aim to develop a better understanding of how puzzling over meaning is marked by a context of power positions and processes, and how powering over interests is marked by particular ideas and a struggle over meaning. Considering the ambiguity which comes with intrinsic uncertain futures this interplay between puzzling and powering becomes especially interesting in view of complex long-term policy issues. Therefore we are inviting contributions that conceptually and/or empirically explore the interplay relations between puzzling over meaning and powering over interests. 

Papers may examine questions as

• How does the process of puzzling and powering work in a decentred governance context? 

• What is the role of powerful interests in shaping policy frames, and what is the role of convincing ideas in shaping power relations?

• How can frame analysis, discourse analysis or other interpretive methods be used to study powering and puzzling?

• Which concepts are useful to understand the interplay between puzzling and powering? 

• How do processes of puzzling and powering over long term policy issues lead to policy action, controversy or apathy? 

These analyses could be applied to different long term policy issues, including social welfare, macro-economics, environment, food security, climate change, migration or globalisation issues.

References

Culpepper, P. D. 2002. Powering, puzzling, and 'pacting': the informational logic of negotiated reforms. Journal of European Public Policy 9:774-790.

Hall, P. A. 1993. Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State: The Case of Economic Policymaking in Britain. Comparative Politics 25:275-296.

Heclo, H. 2010. Modern social politics in Britain and Sweden : from relief to income maintenance. ECPR Press, Colchester.

Call for abstracts for a panel on "Climate Governance: controversy, apathy or action?"

Together with François Gemenne (IDDRI, Science Po Paris), I'm organizing a panel at the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) conference in Bordeaux (4-7 September 2013). The panel was accepted and paper proposals  can now be submitted to this panel!

Climate Governance: controversy, apathy or action?

Climate governance appears to be in dire straits. The global climate negotiations are having a hard time finding a new direction after the largely failed Copenhagen Summit in 2009. The climate science-policy interface is still recovering from the mediatised controversy spurred by "Climategate" and the alleged errors in the IPCC reports. After the financial crisis turned into an economic crisis, policy makers dedicated to climate policy are struggling to defend their policies against drastic budget cuts. At the same time, the media provide dramatic messages about climate related impacts around the world, climate mitigation and adaptation policies carry on under different names (like "energy" or "flood safety"), and some consider the crisis as an opportunity to create a new and greener economy. In this panel, we welcome papers that address how actors involved in climate governance deal with this challenging context. Where does climate governance provoke controversy, and how does controversy affect climate governance? How does apathy on the side of citizens, or politicians, affect climate governance? Where and how are effective actions taken at different levels of governance? We welcome (comparative) case studies about different countries.

Abstracts can be submitted through the ECPR website:
http://new.ecprnet.eu/Events/PanelList.aspx?EventID=5&SectionID=75

The deadline is February 1st 2013. Looking forward to interesting paper proposals!

Overview of presentations at MOPAN 2012

MOPAN 2012 at Wageningen will feature about 90 presentations of contributors from all over the world. An overview of the accepted presentations for the general conference and the thematic tracks is available at http://www.mopan2012.wur.nl/UK/Call+for+Papers/Thematic+tracks/. Click on the tracks and scroll down to see the list of accepted papers.

Last chance for registration at the early bird fee of 295 EUR is on May 6th! To register visit http://www.mopan2012.wur.nl/UK/Registration/

Last call for papers for the MOPAN 2012 conference!

MOPAN 2012 Conference

Last call for papers

(submission deadline extended until February 3)

www.mopan2012.wur.nl

19th Annual Conference on Multi-Organisational Partnerships,
Alliances and Networks

“Multi-actor collaboration in an uncertain and ambiguous world”

July 2-4, 2012, Wageningen, the Netherlands

Confirmed keynote speakers

Prof. Barbara Gray, Pennsylvania State University

Prof. Rob van Tulder, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Dr. Steve Waddell, NetworkingAction/Bocconi University

Call for papers

The MOPAN conference series focusses on partnerships, alliances and networks between any combination of business actors, civil society actors and governmental actors. We invite papers and other contributions (symposia, workshops, games, videos, …) related to the conference theme or one of the thematic tracks outlined below. Please outline your contribution in an abstract of maximum 500 words and send it to mopan2012@wur.nl, indicating whether you submit it to the general conference or to one of the thematic tracks.

Track 1. Dealing with frame diversity in collaborative water governance 

Track 2. Towards Version 2.0 of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives: Rethinking business-NGO- government relationships in governing sustainable production of global commodities 

Track 3. Power in multi-stakeholder processes for development 

Track 4. Facilitating resilience in multi-actor collaboration 

Track 5. Innovation networks: self-organization and adaptive management 

Track 6. Stakeholder involvement in the United Nations 

Track 7. Network dynamics 

Track 8. Complexity leadership and sustainable development 

Track 9. Multi-actor pilot projects and policy experiments 

Track 10. Global Action Networks

Track 11. Still Joining up? Health partnerships, collaborations, networks and integrations

Call for Papers for MOPAN 2012 on-line!

The MOPAN conference series focusses on partnerships, alliances and networks between any combination of business actors, civil society actors and governmental actors. Together with the organising committee of MOPAN 2012 at Wageningen, I've been very busy trying to get the Call for Papers ready. The call is now is now available at www.mopan2012.wur.nl! Spread the word!

The 2012 Conference Theme is "Multi-actor collaboration in an uncertain and ambiguous world".

We invite papers and other contributions (symposia, workshops, games, videos, …) related to the conference theme or one of the thematic tracks:

Track 1. Dealing with frame diversity in collaborative water governance

Track 2. Towards Version 2.0 of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives: Rethinking business-NGO- government relationships in governing sustainable production of global commodities

Track 3. Power in multi-stakeholder processes for development

Track 4. Facilitating resilience in multi-actor collaboration

Track 5. Innovation networks: self-organization and adaptive management

Track 6. Stakeholder involvement in the United Nations

Track 7. Network Dynamics

Track 8. Complexity leadership and sustainable development

Track 9. Multi-actor pilot projects and policy experiments

Track 10. Global Action Networks

Please outline your contribution in an abstract of maximum 500 words and send it to mopan2012@wur.nl, indicating whether you submit it to the general conference or to one of the thematic tracks.

Important dates

Deadline for submission of abstracts: January 15

Notification of acceptance: March 15

Registration open: March 15

Early registration deadline: May 1st

Deadline Full papers: May 15

Final registration deadline: June 15

WASS Research Day "Knowledge in Society: Contestation, Boundaries and Bridges"

Through some combination of participating in a WASS Talents and Topics course and in the WASS Research and Assessment Committee, I got involved in organizing this WASS Research Day. WASS stands for Wageningen School of Social Sciences, by the way, and the Research Day addresses one of the four research themes of the school. I'm very happy that both Mike Hulme and Marjolein van Asselt were willing to give a talk at the Research Day, and I'm looking forward to the abstracts and presentations. The call is still open, until October 15th - I copied the announcement below.

WASS Research Day "Knowledge in Society: Contestation, Boundaries and Bridges"

1 Nov 2011, 9:00 - 16:00, Wageningen

While it is agreed that the world is facing important challenges, there are strong disagreements in society on how these can or must be tackled. Interdependent actors tend to frame problems and underlying causes differently and hence pursue different solutions and strategies to realize these. In addition, different stakeholders have different views on the risks associated with developments in science and society. At the same time the capacity of scientists to offer authoritative interpretations of reality seems to be diminishing. Yet, for developing and realizing innovative solutions to societal challenges it is imperative to accommodate and integrate diverging understandings. This theme studies how and why different perspectives of reality emerge, how science and other forms of expertise interact, and which prospects exists for dealing with diverging understandings in a productive manner.

"Climate change: knowledge, risk and governance"

Mike Hulme
Professor of Climate Change
University of East Anglia



For the mini-conference we invite contributions on the topic "Climate change: knowledge, risk and governance" or on the broader WASS research theme "Knowledge in Society: Contestation, Boundaries and Bridges". This is an excellent opportunity to meet internationally renowned scholars on the topic and to exchange and discuss your work in the WASS community.

If you want to present your work on the WASS Research Day "Knowledge in Society", please send a 300 word abstract to wass@wur.nl by October 15. Based on the submissions different thematic sessions will be organized.

The Research Day is an initiative of WASS Research and Assessment Committee, and is organized by the WASS Office together with Art Dewulf (PAP), Esther Turnhout (FNP) and Severine van Bommel (COM).

Call for papers: "The Governance of Adaptation to Climate Change. An international symposium"

In March 2012 a two day conference will be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on “The governance of adaptation”, organized by our Knowledge for Climate consortium on Governance of Adaptation . Topics to be discussed include: the framing of adaptation problems and goals, modes of governance and available instruments, agency and leadership in adaptation governance, science-policy interaction and adaptation. You are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 250 words on relevant issues before the 15^th of October 2011. We seek to bring together around 50 scholars, who will be selected after a review of abstract to be submitted to governanceofadaptation@ivm.vu.nl. A contribution to travel costs is available for all participants with an approved abstract. Presenters from within Europe will receive 150 Euros, travelers from outside Europe 500 Euros.

MOPAN 2011 Glasgow and MOPAN 2012 Wageningen

This year's small but vibrant edition of the MOPAN conference organized by Pam Hearne at the Strathclyde Business School had a lot to offer for adepts of multi-organisational partnerships, alliances and networks. With contributions from the health sector to the construction sector, cases from India to Panama and work forms from keynotes to workshops, the conference was very enjoyable. We had papers and an improvised workshop on the location and forms of leadership in inter-organizational collaboration. A theory workshop led by Steve Cropper led to animated discussions about the nature and value of ancient, modern, symbolic-interpretive and postmodern theoretical contributions to the study of inter-organizational relations. Sandra Schruijer introduced us to the psychodynamics of inter-organizational collaboration and the role of fear (fear of taking the lead, fear of loosing power, fear of rejection, etc.). Invited speaker Nic Beech entertained us with an analysis of organising practices in the creative industries of folk and classical music. A number of people (including PhD students from the Utrecht-Nijmegen Programme on Partnerships, UNPOP) discussed business-ngo partnerships, both from the perspective of companies (CSR) and from the perspective of ngo's (activism). We also had the opportunity to engage with Scottish tradition in a whisky tasting at the Corinthian Club - for those interested, among the rich and rounded Singleton, the delicate and floral Glenkinchie, the full bodied Talisker and the fruity and spicy Dalwhinnie, the latter got the majority vote!

I'm already busy organising the 19th Annual Conference on Multi-Organisational Partnerships, Alliances and Networks (MOPAN 2012), which will take place from July 2nd – 4th 2012 at Wageningen. A conference website will be on-line soon at http://www.mopan2012.wur.nl

MOPAN 2011 Call for papers!

Pam Hearne at Strathclyde University (Glasgow) has been taking care of the arrangements for MOPAN 2011. The website is up at http://www.sbs.strath.ac.uk/mopan2011/ and a call for papers is waiting for your abstracts.

The theme of this year's conference is "Interventions in collaboration systems"

From the website:

"This year the conference will be held in the University of Strathclyde Business School building at 199 Cathedral Street in Glasgow. An early bird discount on bookings is available for any made prior to May 1st. See Registration.

April 8th is the deadline for abstracts. See Call for Papers.

For fees and accommodation details see registration

For further information, please contact sbs-mopan@strath.ac.uk"

Two climate conferences put interesting material on-line

The "Deltas in Times of Climate Change" conference (Rotterdam) and the "Climate Controversies: Science and Politics" conference (Brussels/Paris) have put papers, slides and recorded presentations on-line.

Climate controversies: science and politics

"Climategate" and climate skepticism received a lot of attention at this event. The majority of the presentations from the conference are now accessible on the siteshttp://climatecontroversies.ulb.ac.be (for the Brussels events), andhttp://www.iddri.org/Activites/Conferences-internationales/Controverses-climatiques-sciences-et-politique (for the Paris proceedings - including a presentation by Bruno Latour).

Deltas in time of Climate Change

From the conference website:

The participants debated climate adaptation strategies for deltas and delta cities and exchanged knowledge, which was widely offered in 70+ sessions. Many contacts between scientists, policy makers and practitioners were established, refreshed and deepened. Relations between delta cities in and outside Connecting Delta Cities (CDC) were strengthened and the Delta Alliance was launched.

High profile guests during the opening session included His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, who gave the opening speech, Nguyen Thai Lai (Vice Minister, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam), Ahmed Aboutaleb (Mayor of Rotterdam), Delta Commissioner Wim Kuijken and Cedric Grant (Deputee Mayor of New Orleans) who gave a moving presentation on the state of New Orleans five years after Katrina.

The audience was updated byMichael Oppenheimer (Princeton University, USA) and Martin Parry(Imperial College London, United Kingdom) about sea level rise and other factors playing a crucial role in deltas. Pavel Kabat (Climate changes Spatial Planning) gave a presentation on Dutch climate research and Malcom Smith (architect at ARUP) triggered the audience with a few challenging thoughts for the rest of the conference.

The results of the conference can be found here

Call for papers on "Interactional framing in policy controversies" at the IPA conference

The 6th International Conference on Interpretive Policy Analysis (IPA) takes place from Thursday June 23 to Saturday June 25, 2011 at Cardiff University (Wales, UK). The call for papers is open until January 31st.

Together with Maartje van Lieshout we have organised a panel at this conference, on Interactional framing in policy controversies.

An interactional approach to framing focuses on how people react to each other’s on-going framing and the way they use language to frame the issues. Instead of focusing on what’s going on ‘between the ears’, we try to better understand what is going on ‘between the noses’ of people. This draws the attention to the concrete interactions where actors make sense of problems and possible solutions, and how they affect each other's frames in and through a developing interaction.

The papers will address interactional framing by examining questions such as: How does the process of framing in interaction work? Which factors of successful framing can be distinguished? What is the impact of interactional framing processes on the outcomes of policy controversies? While they all focus on processes of framing in interaction, the papers in this panel address different policy themes-environmental problems, social problems, and crisis management- and different policy processes – informal meetings, formal (administrative) meetings, and public deliberation. By examining these different contexts, we hope to deepen our understanding of

interactional framing processes.

Interested? Submit a 300 word abstract to maartje.vanlieshout@wur.nl before January 31st.

Upcoming conferences and calls for papers

A number of interesting conferences later this year have their calls for papers out now:

The "Deltas in times of climate change" conference (Rotterdam, 29 September - 1 October 2010 ) has extended the deadline for abstract submission until March, 15th. The call for abstracts can be found here. There's a thematic session on governance and economics of climate adaptation where my colleague Katrien Termeer is one of the convenors. This quote from the website gives an idea about the issues that will be addressed:

Governance of adaptation is a so called 'wicked' problem. It involves many challenges: the multi-actor challenge because many actors and institutions are involved with different stakes, resources and strategies, the multi-level challenge because which geographic level to address which adaptation tasks is unclear; the multi- scale challenge because climate adaptation requires a constant alternation of short-term action and long-term anticipation; the multi-sector challenge, because many societal sectors are involved and climate adaptation lacks a settled climate policy domain itself and; the multi-perception challenge, because of the uncertainties and the various perceptions about risks, adaptation problems and solutions.

As I announced earlier on this blog, the 17th Annual Conference on Multi-Organisational Partnerships, Alliances and Networks (MOPAN) will be organized by Steve Cropper at Keele University (UK), 28th - 30th June 2010. The conference theme is Collaboration: Dynamics, Movement, Change. Collaboration: Dynamics, Movement, Change.The Conference joins this year with the ESRC Research Seminar on Collaborative Futures (which will form a stream of the Conference on Tuesday 29th June) and the British Academy of Management Special Interest Group on Inter-Organisational Relations. Abstracts need to be submitted by Monday 12th April 2010.

The call for papers for the Berlin Conference of the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (8-9 October 2010) is out as well. The deadline for paper abstracts is April 6, with full papers due September 20. This year’s conference will adress the “Social dimensions of environmental change and governance”.

Finally, the Climate 2010 Conference will take place from 1-7 November 2010 and is organised by the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences at a very special location: in cyberspace - through discussion fora, virtual blackboards, expert live chats and video podcasts. The website presents this conference as "The World´s CO2-friendly Scientific On-line Climate Conference". This conference takes place for the third time, focusing this year on "Climate Change and the Sustainable Management of Water Resources". Abstracts need to be submitted online by 31 March.

There are probably more interesting conferences coming up. Leave a comment about conferences that you want to bring to people's attention!

MOPAN 2010 at Keele University

At the MOPAN 2009 website the next conference location has been announced:

"The 17th International Conference on Multi-Organisational Partnerships, Alliances & Networks (MOPAN 2010) will be held at Keele University, United Kingdom from 28th - 30th June 2010.

The Conference theme will be "Collaboration: Dynamics, Movement and Transformation"

The Conference will be held together with the ESRC Research Seminar on Collaborative Futures (which will form a stream within the Conference) and the British Academy of Management special Interest Group on Inter-Organisational Relations."

There is more interesting stuff to be found on the 2009 conference website:

- the presentations of the symposium on 'Competing claims on space - Framing interests in multi-actor collaboration' organized by Cycloop can be downloaded

- the conference photos are available

This is a picture of the 'monasterical' lunch room at the MOPAN 2009 conference in Dublin:

MOPAN Conference program available

The program for the 16th Annual Conference on Multi-Organisational Partnerships, Alliances and Networks (MOPAN, NUI Maynooth, June 17th - 20th 2009) is available at the the conference website: http://www.nuim.ie/nirsa/news/mopan_conference/programme/index.shtml

Together with the network for research and facilitation of multi-actor collaboration 'Cycloop' I'm organizing a Symposium “Competing claims on space – Framing interests in multi-actor collaboration”. The symposium is planned for Friday and consists of three sessions.

Registration for the MOPAN Conference is still possible at http://www.nuim.ie/nirsa/news/mopan_conference/mopan_registration.shtml

Upcoming conferences

A number of interesting conferences are in sight, most of which I will have to miss because of an imminent family enlargement, but you might be able to make it. I did (or still have to) work on a number of contributions together with other authors.

IRSPM, Copenhagen
The 13th Annual Conference of the International Research Society for Public Management, Copenhagen Business School, April 6, 2009 – April 8, 2009.
Together with Katrien Termeer I worked on a paper in the Panel track 'Managing transitions in public sector infrastructure' entitled "Theoretical multiplicity for the governance of transitions: the energy producing greenhouse case".

ECPR Joint Sessions, Lissabon
The Joint Sessions of workshops of the European Consortium of Political Research, 14th - 19th April 2009.
Together with Maartje van Lieshout, Katrien Termeer and Noelle Aarts, I work on a paper for the session 'Studying the Political through Frame Analysis' entitled "Framing scales and scaling frames".

IHDP, Bonn
7th International Science Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (Open Meeting), "Social Challenges of Global Change" originally scheduled for 15-19 October 2008, will take place from April 26-30 2009 in Bonn, Germany.
Together with Helen Ingram, Marcela Brugnach and Katrien Termeer, I'm working on a paper for the session 'Institutionally challenged: history and prospects of managing river basins in a changing global environment', entitled "The Co-Production of Knowledge about Water Resources: Framing, Uncertainty and Climate Change".

KSI, Amsterdam
First European Conference on Sustainability Transitions: Dynamics & Governance of Transitions to Sustainability, 4th to 6th June 2009Felix Meritis, Amsterdam.
Together with my colleagues at the Public Administration and Policy Group, Katrien Termeer, Renate Werkman and Gerard Breeman, I worked on a paper entitled "The value of theoretical multiplicity for steering transitions towards sustainability".

MOPAN, Dublin
16th Annual Conference on Multi-Organisational Partnerships, Alliances and Networks (MOPAN), NUI Maynooth, June 17th - 20th 2009.
Together with the network for reserach and facilitation of multi-actor collaboration 'Cycloop' I'm organizing a Symposium “Competing claims on space – Framing interests in multi-actor collaboration”

AISDRC, Utrecht
15th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference July 5-8, 2009, Utrecht, Netherlands.

MOPAN 2009 Call for papers

The call for papers is out for the

16th Annual MOPAN Conference

June 17th - 20th 2009

National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Here are some important dates:

Closing Date for Abstracts

Abstracts of proposed papers, posters and other media (500 words maximum) are due by Friday 13th March 2009 and should clearly indicate the content of the final paper / poster / other. (See registration dates & charges).

Closing Date for Full Papers

To be able to include them in the proceedings, full papers are due by Friday 15th May 2009.
All contributions should be submitted by e-mail to nirsa@nuim.ie.

More information can be found on the website: http://www.nuim.ie/nirsa/news/mopan_conference/index.shtml

Conference on Sustainability Transitions

The Dutch Knowledge Network on System Innovations has announced its International Conference for 2009:

First European Conference on Sustainability Transitions
Dynamics & Governance of Transitions to Sustainability

4th and 5th June 2009, Felix Meritis, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Deadline for paper abstracts is January 31, 2009.

More information can be found on the conference website: http://www.ksinetwork.nl/conference2009/

Final NeWater conference in Sevilla

Registration is open for the Final NeWater Conference 2008

"Adaptive Integrated Water Resources Management under Uncertainty "

November 17th - 19th 2008, Seville

The conference is intended for water policy makers/advisors and water managers working at the EU, national and basin levels, as well as researchers. The NeWater project has further developed the concept of Adaptive Integrated Water Resources Management (AIWM). The concept is based on the notion that the best way to manage water resources is to increase our capacity to learn from experience and adapt to change and uncertainty.

More information about the conference on http://www.newater.info/everyone/3319

The announcement can also be downloaded as pdf

MOPAN 2008 Conference in Boston

MOPAN (or the 15th Annual Conference on Multi-Organizational Partnerships, Alliances and Networks) took place June 25 - 27 in Boston. After two smooth flights (with a change at Dublin) a cab brought me to the surprisingly quiet and beautiful center of Boston. The Suffolk university residence provided me with a decent student room sharing the bathroom with the room next door - probably a common feature in US dorm rooms, but which carries the risk, for those who are not familiar with it, to lock each other out of the bathroom - which actually happened to me thanks to a colleague from LSE ;-). Other highlights of the conference were: spectacular views over Boston from the welcome reception on the 12th floor (see picture above); the presence of the two 'mothers' of the conference (Chris Huxham & Barbara Gray) who managed to present a joint paper despite misbooked flights and hotels; an interesting track on Intersectoral Collaborative Arrangements by Pieter Glasbergen & Mariette van Huijstee, which I could only follow partly due the overloaded conference program on Friday; interesting conversations about framing, interaction and discursive repertoires with Anna Heydenreich; taking a water taxi to the dinner at the Hyatt, with a great sight on Boston from over the water (see picture below); bringing together my formers bosses at Leuven (René Bouwen & Tharsi Taillieu) with my new boss at Wageningen (Katrien Termeer); drinking coffee at Starbucks in order to obtain, after a complicated process involving a pre-paid Starbucks card and registration with AT&T, free wireless internet access; and, of course ;-), my own presentation on "Steering system innovations" in track 5 - here's an updated abstract of our paper which is more precise than the original abstract uploaded on the MOPAN website:

Steering system innovations – a theoretical exploration of transition management

Art Dewulf, Katrien Termeer, Renate Werkman and Gerard Breeman

Transition management, as a theory of directing structural societal changes towards sustainable system innovations, has become a major topic in scientific research over the last years. In the Netherlands, the concept of transitions was adopted by several governmental agencies as one of the leading principles for ‘steering’ sustainable development. In this paper we focus on the question how transitions can be influenced or managed, in particular by governmental actors. We will address these questions by theoretically comparing transition management theory to a number of related theories on change and intervention, such as organizational change management, multi-actor collaboration, network governance, policy agenda setting, social learning and adaptive management. From this selective comparison, we argue that (1) these related theories put the managerial assumptions of transition management into perspective, by adding other steering roles and leadership mechanisms to the picture; and (2) transition management tries to overarch a lot of diversities in one theory, while we suggest an approach of theoretical multiplicity for dealing with the enormous challenge of sustainability.

As anounced by Colette Dumas, who organized the conference together with Robert DeFilippi, the full papers of the conference would be uploaded to the website as an on-line proceedings.

Next years MOPAN conference will take place in Dublin. As a thought-provoking contribution to Brendan Bartley's invitation to think about next year's conference format, here's a paper in FQS on the "Unconferencing Approach" and the "un-bla" method ...

Deadline extension Transitions Conference

The deadline for abstracts for the Transitions conference has been extended until April 30th 2008. The conference takes place in Wageningen, 26-29 Oct. 2008.

For more information see http://www.agricultureintransition.eu