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Policy Sciences

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01-06-2014

Civil society organizations and deliberative policy making: interpreting environmental controversies in the deliberative system

Author: Jennifer Dodge

Published in: Policy Sciences | Issue 2/2014

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Abstract

This paper argues that while research on deliberative democracy is burgeoning, there is relatively little attention paid to the contributions of civil society. Based on an interpretive conceptualization of deliberative democracy, this paper draws attention to the ways in which civil society organizations employ “storylines” about environmental issues and deliberative processes to shape deliberative policy making. It asks, how do civil society organizations promote storylines in the deliberative system to change policy? How do storylines constitute policy and policy-making processes in the deliberative system? I answer these questions through an empirical analysis of two environmental controversies in the USA: environmental justice in New Mexico and coalbed methane development in Wyoming. Findings indicate that civil society organizations used storylines in both cases to shift the dynamics of the deliberative system and to advance their own interpretations of environmental problems and policy-making processes. Specifically, they used storylines (1) to set the agenda on environmental hazards, (2) to construct the form of public deliberation, changing the rules of the game, (3) to construct the content of public deliberation, shaping meanings related to environmental policy, and (4) to couple/align forums, arenas and courts across the system. These findings suggest that promoting storylines through accommodation and selection processes can be an important mechanism for shaping policy meanings and for improving deliberative quality, although these effects are tempered by discursive and material forms of power, and the competition among alternative storylines.

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These approaches are grounded in the “interpretive turn” in the social sciences, which took place in the late twentieth century. At its heart, interpretive research has an “overarching appreciation for the centrality of meaning in human life in all its aspects…” (Yanow and Schwartz-Shea 2006, xii, see also Ospina and Author 2005).

Drawing on Geertz (1973, 1992), Yanow (2004) defines local knowledge as “the very mundane, yet expert understanding of and practical reasoning about local conditions derived from lived experience” (S12, italics original). Coburn (2005) argues that local knowledge “includes information pertaining to local contexts or settings, including knowledge of specific characteristics, circumstances, events, and relationships, as well as important understanding of their meaning” (47).

While many deliberative scholars argue that rhetoric is a coercive form of communication, it can be necessary to convince a skeptical audience. It “can be used to draw attention to previously marginalized concerns, to reach categories of people traditionally excluded from discussion by couching points in terms familiar to them, and to force action on a problem or issue” (Dryzek 2000, 67; see also Young 2001).

In institutional theory, coupling refers to “the creation and maintenance of gaps between formal policies and organizational practices” (Beekun and Glick 2001; Meyer and Rowan 1977).

Leadership for a Changing World was sponsored by the Ford Foundation and implemented in partnership with the Advocacy Institute and the Research Center for Leadership in Action at The Wagner School/New York University. Each cohort of nominees underwent a rigorous selection process, so that out of about 1,350 nominees per year only 17–20 were selected.

This technique involves re-writing transcripts to uncover the structure and meaning of participants’ stories.

Powder River’s partners included the Wyoming Outdoor Council, the Landowners’ Association of Wyoming and the Sierra Club, and three regional coalitions: the Western Organization of Resource Council, the Rocky Mountain Energy Campaign, and the Western Coalbed Methane Project of the Oil and Gas Accountability Project.

The EJ Working Group included three grassroots organizations—Concerned Citizens of Wagon Mound & Mora County, Colonias Development Council, and Kalpulli Izkalli—three coalitions—The Laguna-Acoma Coalition for a Safe Environment, the Sacred Alliances for Grassroots Equality (SAGE), and the Southwest Organizing Project—and two mainstream (i.e., white) environmental organizations—the New Mexico Environmental Law Center and the Southwest Research & Information Center.

Stacking this task force with legislators suggests an attempt to control the process rather than allow the Environmental Quality Council to decide on Powder River’s proposed regulations.

On split estates, ownership over the surface land and subsurface minerals is split between two parties. Often the state or federal government owns subsurface minerals and private landowners own the surface land.

The secretary had been deputy secretary under an EJ supporter and in an interview claimed to want to make EJ a priority. The deputy secretary had worked at the Navajo EPA and Tribal Council, and according to the Network’s executive director, “was very aware of the environmental justice issues from a reservation standpoint and… the people of color perspective.”

Powder River wanted the loss of land value included in surface use agreements, which it got. They wanted companies to post bonds of up to $100,000 to cover reclamation costs in the absence of a surface use agreement (to return land to its original condition), but they only got up to $2000. They wanted 180 days notice before development would begin but only got 30. They also wanted landowners to have equal negotiating rights, e.g., to give or deny permission for companies to enter their land, but they did not. Companies are now required to submit a plan of development to inform landowners, although implementation is uncertain.

Environmental groups thought these cases put into question the validity of BLM’s pre-leasing decisions across the Powder River Basin. Industry representatives argued that these cases only applied to the small handful of parcels that were allowed in the appeal, and did not apply to the basin as a whole.

NEPA, one of the first environmental laws in the US, requires federal agencies to assess environmental impacts of proposed federal projects and document them in Environmental Impact Statements. NEPA analysis must include provisions for public input and assess EJ impacts.

Confrontational action can be justifiable when activists seek to bring attention to issue of justice and fairness (Fung 2005; Young 2001), enhance overall deliberative quality (Mansbridge et al. 2012), respond to unfair procedural conditions (Hendriks 2011; Estlund, 2001), or provide “a kind of expressive force… that can aid understanding in a conflict” (Hendriks 2011, 30, citing Mansbridge 1999).

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Title: Civil society organizations and deliberative policy making: interpreting environmental controversies in the deliberative system
Author: Jennifer Dodge
Publication date: 01-06-2014
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Policy Sciences / Issue 2/2014
Print ISSN: 0032-2687
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0891
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-014-9200-y

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