Call for Abstracts for a fully funded workshop:
Novel Approaches to Climate Governance and the role of Entrepreneurship
18-19 May 2015, Amsterdam
Entrepreneurship and climate governance
Predictions of climate change paint an alarming picture and addressing the ensuing risks will require the
introduction of radically different public and private policies that cut emissions, promote adaptation and
encourage resilience. This fully funded workshop will bring together 20-25 scholars under the flag of the
COST Action INOGOV (Innovations in Climate Governance) to discuss the role of entrepreneurship in
bringing about radical transitions in climate governance. Entrepreneurial initiatives are often regarded as
absolutely crucial for the kind of policy invention and innovation processes that the climate change issue
seems to need, at the national as well as at the international level. Policy entrepreneurs exploit windows
of opportunity, organize experiments with new policies, recombine policy problems and solutions, and
create shadow networks (or niche areas) where novel ideas can be incubated.
This workshop aims to foster better and more integrated analytical discussions about how
entrepreneurship plays into climate policy and governance innovation. We invite social scientists from all
disciplines to debate how and to what extent entrepreneurs influence governance and policy
developments, with a view towards radical innovation and novel approaches. We welcome theoretical
papers, methodological papers, and empirical studies or combinations thereof; and invite abstracts that
discuss and examine entrepreneurship and climate mitigation and/or adaptation. The aim is to publish
the draft papers, subject to normal review process, as a special volume in a high ranked scientific
journal/or edited book.
Topical themes
The workshop is open to a broad variety of interpretations of the relationship between entrepreneurship
and novelty in governance, but we strongly encourage submissions on the following themes:
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Do we see systematic difference between entrepreneurship across various climate policy areas,
national political systems, or types of entrepreneur (e.g. civil servants, business, politicians and
NGOs)?
Which entrepreneurial techniques and strategies are the most common and the most effective,
i.e. the creation of issue networks, framing, persuasion, normative naming and shaming or issuelinkage?
What is the relative importance of entrepreneurship versus broader social forces, such as
organizational and economic structures, cultural and institutional features?
To what extent and how do entrepreneurs work across levels, e.g. by translating international
impulses, whether from the EU, the UNFCCC or other countries, into national policy development
processes?
Activities that established INOGOV have already led to the publication of two special issues, in
Environmental Politics (2014, Vol. 23 (5) and Global Environmental Change (2014, vol. 29).
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Practicalities and submission deadlines
The workshop will be funded under the 4 year COST Action INOGOV (IS1309 Innovations in Climate
Governance: Sources, Patterns and Effects) (2014-8). INOGOV will cover reasonable travel costs and
accommodation of all invited authors, subject to standard COST reimbursement and eligibility rules.
Interested participants/authors are encouraged to submit 500 word abstracts by February 28, 2015 as a
first step towards full paper development. Please send your abstract to the INOGOV Network Manager:
Dr. Johanna Forster (j.forster@uea.ac.uk).
Authors will be notified of acceptance/rejection by March 20, 2015 and those selected to contribute to
the workshop will receive funding to cover their costs of participation. Contributing authors are expected
to submit a full first draft of their paper by May 8 2015 to be distributed to all workshop participants
before the workshop. The drafts will be intensively debated at the workshop and full papers should
tentatively be submitted for the review process by September 2015.
Authors with specific questions are encouraged to contact either Dr. Elin Lerum Boasson
(elin@cicero.oslo.no) or Prof. Dave Huitema (dave.huitema@vu.nl).
Organisation
Local organizers: Prof. Dave Huitema, Eric Massey MSc, Belinda McFadgen Msc, and Dr. Stefania
Munaretto, VU University Amsterdam, Institute for Environmental Studies.
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