Work Package 3

While the stock-taking survey in WP2 serves to get a broad overview of concrete forms of institutionalization of KB in climate policy in a larger number of countries, work in WP3 aims to achieve a profound understanding of how climate science and climate policy are effectively integrated in a limited number of innovative KB processes. Building on the survey results of WP2, we will select 8-10 promising KB cases which will, then, be analyzed in more depth.

In order to get a deeper and more dynamic understanding of the science-policy nexus in climate-related questions, the case analyses will build on an extensive set of analytical dimensions and assessment criteria as derived from the multi-theory analytical KB framework outlined above. Relevant research questions that will guide the case analysis include: How do KB processes deal with the special requirements that emerge from the distinctive features of climate science and climate policy, i.e. its high degree of complexity, high and conflicting societal stakes, and the need to act under conditions of uncertainty? At what stage of the policy process and for which type of problems is expertise mobilized? (How) Do contending groups use scientific knowledge as a strategic resource to increase their authority or legitimation? How do KB processes spot and maintain the ‘right’ social distance between science and politics and how is – to use a cartographic picture – science brought close enough to politics without risking a spill-over of one space into the other or creating ambiguity about where the line between science and politics should fall (‘boundary work’)? To what extent do KB processes contribute to ‘intangible outputs’ like spawning improved mental models of the problem, extending professional networks or increasing technical capabilities?

Of course, the crucial question of how to assess the ‘success’ or ‘effectiveness’ of KB models and processes has to be addressed in WP3 as well. While the stock-taking survey in WP2 only draws on proxy variables and expert accounts to roughly assess the success of KB forms, in the in-depth studies in WP3 also the actual ‘policy effects’ of KB will be investigated. For that, concrete ‘historic episodes’ of advice giving will be investigated by means of longitudinal analyses and methods of process tracing. The potential future policy effects of KB will be (cautiously) assessed by means of triangulated expert surveys. When analyzing the selected cases, special attention will be devoted to the question of how KB processes are embedded in the broader political and social environment. Relevant questions include: How are specific KB models linked to political and social decision-making processes and how do they interact with other climate policy relevant forums/processes of KB in the respective country?