Empirical and conceptual developments of polycentric climate governance 1/2

Abstract

Radical transformation is needed to achieve urgent greenhouse gas emissions reductions, in turn necessitating effective governance models. Polycentric systems “have multiple governing authorities at different scales rather than a monocentric unit” (Ostrom, 2010: 552), featuring actors that exercise independence from one another, but also overlap with, mutually adjust to, and commonly trust the other actors within their system. These panels bring together scholars seeking to explore issues relating to how polycentric climate governance networks function, and how far these models help or hinder the development of climate mitigation and adaptation. While polycentric frameworks may describe, explain, or even prescribe governance approaches, further empirical studies are needed to provide nuanced insights into the realities of such systems, and in turn, develop our conceptual understandings. Greater attention is especially needed regarding the roles of power, and power inequalities within polycentric frameworks. Further questions of interest may include, but are far from limited to: • How and why do polycentric systems emerge? • What roles are played by ‘orchestrators’ within such systems, and why do they assume these roles? • In what ways are actors who wish to hinder climate action enabled within polycentric systems, if at all? • How and why do mutual adjustments and levels of trust between actors grow or fall? • To what extent do national policy styles influence local action within polycentric systems? For further reading on this topic, see Jordan et al.’s (2018) Governing Climate Change: Polycentricity in Action? (Cambridge University Press)

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