Dryzek- Pages 73-120
Part III: Solving Environmental Problems
-Discourses based on problem solving:
-ecological problems are recognized but can be fixed by societies.
Chapter 4- Leave it to the Experts: Administrative Rationalism
1. Definition: The problem-solving discourse which emphasizes the roles of the expert
rather than the citizen or producer/consumer in social problem solving, and which
stresses social relationships of hierarchy rather than equality or competition.
2. When first introduced, the environmental issues seemed to all be handled similarly in
the developed world
3. Repertoire of Administrative Rationalism
3.1. Professional resource-management bureaucracies:
3.2. Pollution Control Agencies
3.3. Regulatory Policy Instruments
3.3.1. Regulations:
3.3.2. US: Rely heavily on judicial practices to solve problems
3.3.3. Britain: problems need to be proven by science before they can be
addressed
3.4. Environmental Impact Assessment
3.4.1. Governments must fully address environmental impacts before starting
any project; forces more scientific research
3.5. Expert Advisory Commissions
3.5.1. US: President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)
3.5.2. Britain: Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution
3.6. Rationalistic Policy Analysis Techniques
3.6.1. Cost-Benefit analysis
3.6.2. Risk Analysis
3.7. Administrative rationalism seeks to organize scientific and technical expertise
into bureaucracy hierarchy in the service of the state.
3.8. Justification
3.9. Crisis
3.10. Government/governance
Chapter 5- Leave it to the People: Democratic Pragmatism
1. Definition: interactive problem solving within the basic institutional structure of liberal
capitalist democracy
2. In action
2.1. Often proposed as a remedy for the crisis of the administrative rationalism
2.2. Public consultation
2.3. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR
2.4. Policy Dialogue
2.5. Lay Citizen Deliberation
2.6. Public inquiries
2.7. Right-to-know Legislation
3. Government and Governance
4. Limits