300450 Nexus. Policy interdependencies in Times of the Antthropocene (MA: Politische Soziologie) (S) (SoSe 2024)

The ‘nexus’ between overlapping policy areas such as food, water, energy, or climate has been described by the World Economic Forum in 2011 as one of the major challenges of our time. The literature gives numerous examples of how nexus problems are crossing the established boundaries between disciplines, sectors, and policy areas. They are confronting policy actors with coordination problems, putting pressure on institutional silos, reinforcing interest conflicts, and testing the policy learning and advisory capacities of political systems. This is especially true under the conditions of the Anthropocene. Anthropogenic climate change impacts multiple social and environmental determinants of health, affects the most vulnerable populations and exacerbates the correlations between multiple crises. At the core of these and other challenges seem to be contestations about the very nature of the nexus and about who can claim responsibility and authority. At the same time, new forms of policy advice and expert platforms have emerged at the nexus. The aim of the seminar is (1) to critically discuss the current literature on policy interdependencies, (2) to analyze neighboring policy areas such as climate, energy, mobility, or public health, and (3) to explore national and transnational modes of coordination and expertise at the nexus. A specific focus will be on the relationship between expertise, public policy, and the public at the nexus between policies.

Bibliography

Examples at https://thenexusnetwork.org. See also the paper by Stirling 2015 (https://thenexusnetwork.org/tag/andy-stirling/)

Straßheim, H. (2023). Expertise under uncertainty: Comparing policy expert platforms at the global climate–health nexus. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 1-19. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12618