So, I was looking for an article that explained "this is how UK climate policy has developed - here are the important policy [and other] documents, and here is how key points played out". And ... I found it. Bulkeley, H. 2015. Charting Climate Change Governance in the United Kingdom. ACCOMPLISHING CLIMATE GOVERNANCE, 24–53. Cambridge... Continue Reading →
Article 1st of 20: “A hard Act to follow?”
For reasons that will become clear, I am planning to read 20 academic articles (that may include sections of a thesis or two) over the coming month, and to blog about them. First up is Matthew Lockwood (2021): A hard Act to follow? The evolution and performance of UK climate governance, Environmental Politics, DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2021.1910434... Continue Reading →
“Participation? Show don’t tell” #egofodder #insultation #AcademicCulture #ActivistCulture #Smugosphere
A few examples spring to mind. In 2007, while my eyes were opening wider and wider to the reality of Climate Camp, I was at an event in Manchester aimed at getting university students involved in the "non-hierarchical" organisation. And two self-described "non-hierarchical leaders designed the meeting that involved rather a lot of talking... by... Continue Reading →
“Nuclear electricity” – 1978 booklet by Australian Mining Industry Council
So, the Australian government has torn up a contract it made with the French for some submarines and is now going to buy some nuclear ones. Smarter people than me (Laura Tingle, Guy Rundle etc etc) have written about the geopolitics of all this. One point, made by various commentators, is that building/operating nuclear subs... Continue Reading →
Podcasts schmodcasts – the good, bad and indifferent
Am late to this party, since I didn't get a smart phone until 18 months ago, and even then just didn't bother. But, thanks to, well, Dr Termagant, I finally started listening them, usually on long yomps up hills and around cities. I listened to a bunch of politics ones, Meh. I listened to a... Continue Reading →
Incumbency own goals – accidents will happen…
Proportional representation is not the global panacea that some of its more excitable proponents would have you believe. It's not the "one weird trick" that will usher in a golden age of reasonable and reasoned governance. But the current system - a cartel of major parties guarding the mechanisms by which they keep their position... Continue Reading →
On invitations to reflect, and how we de-rail ourselves…
The Buddhists are right, I think, about the ways in which longing and desire prevent us from learning, from seeing the world more as it is than as we would wish it to be. This is coming from a very revealing interaction this morning online, on a Twitter account I share the running of. The... Continue Reading →
#Community and 3 unspoken theories of change – Our mental models are Jeff Winger wrong…
““There's no such thing as "Single Malt Platinum Boobs and Billiards Club"? Aw, I guess I never said it out loud.”Jeff Winger in the Community episode “Remedial Chaos Theory” (1) We bumble through life like a blind drunk bull in a china shop. We have un-examined and under-examined assumptions about how the world actually is... Continue Reading →
Incumbency tactics – build a “common sense” (a la Gramsci)/capture the policy networks and possibilities
One of my favourite quotes about politics, policy etc is this "The definition of alternatives is the supreme instrument of power." It's by a basically forgotten American political scientist called E.E. Schattschneider. It kinda gels with a bunch of other stuff about institutional guard-rails, and Gramsci's notion of hegemony and common sense (as opposed to... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 