Clumsy solutions for a complex world: The case of climate change

Marco Verweij; Mary Douglas; Richard Ellis; Christoph Engel; Frank Hendriks; Susanne Lohmann; Steven Ney; Steve Rayner; Michael Thompson

doi:10.1111/j.1540-8159.2005.09566.x-i1

Clumsy solutions for a complex world: The case of climate change

Marco Verweij, Mary Douglas^*, Richard Ellis, Christoph Engel, Frank Hendriks, Susanne Lohmann, Steven Ney, Steve Rayner, Michael Thompson

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

300 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Successful solutions to pressing social ills tend to consist of innovative combinations of a limited set of alternative ways of perceiving and resolving the issues. These contending policy perspectives justify, represent and stem from four different ways of organizing social relations: hierarchy, individualism, egalitarianism and fatalism. Each of these perspectives: (1) distils certain elements of experience and wisdom that are missed by the others; (2) provides a clear expression of the way in which a significant portion of the populace feels we should live with one another and with nature; and (3) needs all of the others in order to be sustainable. 'Clumsy solutions' - policies that creatively combine all opposing perspectives on what the problems are and how they should be resolved - are therefore called for. We illustrate these claims for the issue of global warming.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	817-843
Number of pages	27
Journal	Public Administration
Volume	84
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-8159.2005.09566.x-i1
Publication status	Published - Dec 2006

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AU - Engel, Christoph

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AU - Lohmann, Susanne

AU - Ney, Steven

AU - Rayner, Steve

AU - Thompson, Michael

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Clumsy solutions for a complex world: The case of climate change

Abstract

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