Michael Böcher

Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg | OvGU · Institute for Social Sciences

Explaining the choice of instruments in environmental policy is an important research question for political science. Especially the fundamental change in the use of environmental policy instruments since the late 1970s in different countries needs explanations: as alternatives to command-and-control instruments, other instrumental forms (e.g., mar...

Wissenschaftliche Politikberatung genoss während der ersten Welle der Corona-Pandemie so große Aufmerksamkeit, dass von manchen gar eine „Technokratisierung“ der Politik in Deutschland beklagt wurde. Der Artikel analysiert die Frage, ob die wissenschaftliche Politikberatung des Robert-Koch Instituts (RKI) tatsächlich so viel Gewicht erlangte. Anhan...

This is a response to the commentary by Robert C. Schmidt in this journal, in which the author suggests that for specific problems such as climate change or the current pandemic, decisions on policies should be made by scientific experts rather than by politicians. We argue that such ideas, which were brought up in the late 1960s and reconsidered m...

In the public debate on climate change in Europe, aviation transport has become a bone of contention and thus also a target of political regulation. While the actual available policy instruments, their designs and effects have been extensively studied, their political economy has remained a rather blind spot of research. Therefore, in this article...

Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a crucial role in advancing sustainable development within the knowledge society by training future leaders, experts, and educators, and conducting research on achieving a more sustainable world (e.g., Wals et al., 2016). The whole-institution approach (WIA) is recognized as vital for successful governance...

The overall research objective of the present study is the investigation of the effects of a strongly expressed restriction-oriented climate change mitigation heuristic (SER heuristic) on people's attitudes towards and acceptance of climate change mitigation technologies such as Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU). Furthermore, we want to examine...

Due to the urgent need for global climate change mitigation, the use of renewable carbon sources and the application of circular economy principles represent promising ways to implement the necessary fundamental transformation toward a sustainable (i.e., carbon-neutral) carbon-based chemical industry. As this required transformation involves a mult...

In this Chapter, we identify and explore the major criticisms of International Forest1 Governance (IFG). We also present alternatives to current IFG approaches. Our critiques span from technical issues embedded within the accepted IFG framework, to broader challenges of the entire IFG. In response to these critiques, a spectrum of solutions and alt...

This poster shows the research approach of our project. It deals with the question of to what extent can the use of Service Learning (SL) in university teaching contribute to an sustainable overall institutional transformation of universities?

The amended German Climate Protection Act of 2021 is seen as an essential step towards fulfilment national climate protection targets and as a sign of mainstreaming climate protection in German politics. However, at the regional level, where many climate protection measures are implemented, there is a strong fragmentation in terms of priorities, po...

Transformation processes are embedded in a broader discourse on sustainability, climate protection, and biodiversity protection. In this context, possible interindividual conflicts between an interest in nature conservation and efforts to counteract climate change also seem to be relevant. This study focuses on the acceptability of different climat...

The National Climate Initiative (NKI) in Germany provides a strong incentive for local governments to apply for funding to engage in climate protection activities. Yet, the latest evaluation of the NKI confirms that there is a great disparity in the distribution of funding across regions. Taking this regional fragmentation as a starting point, we a...

Climate policy is expected to consider the current state of science. As populist radical right parties (PRRP) become elected members of parliaments, they have a greater influence on integration processes between science and politics. The aim of the paper is to show that instead of generally rejecting climate science, PRRPs appeal to ‘alternative ex...

Nachhaltige Veränderungsprozesse in ländlichen Regionen erfordern eine Balance zwischen Klimaschutz, Klimaanpassung und Wirtschaftlichkeit. Ein neuer Ansatz zur Identifikation und Verstärkung von Erfolgsfaktoren für Regionalentwicklung und Klimaschutz erleichtert die Umsetzung entsprechender Vorhaben. Damit können konträre Zielsetzungen miteinander...

Die Bioökonomie zielt darauf ab, die Rohstoffbasis von fossilen auf biogene Rohstoffe umzustellen und durch effiziente Ressourcennutzung und Kreislaufwirtschaft ein zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaftssystem zu ermöglichen. Doch wie nachhaltig ist die Bioökonomie? Die Beiträge in diesem Themenheft setzen sich aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven mit den Theme...

Si, d’un côté, les limitations des contacts sociaux imposées pendant la première année de la pandémie de Covid-19 ont permis de réduire considérablement les émissions de CO 2 et si l’Allemagne a ainsi pu atteindre ses propres objectifs climatiques pour l’année 2020, les scientifiques mettent d’ores et déjà en garde contre un « effet rebond » et con...

In diesem Kapitel werden die politischen Entwicklungen und Ziele der Bioökonomie in Europa nachgezeichnet und erläutert. Im Fokus stehen politische Strategiepapiere der deutschen Bundesregierung und der Europäischen Union sowie die fünf Ziele Ernährungssicherheit, Versorgungssicherheit, Umwelt- und Ressourcenschutz, Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und Arbeits...

Die Ziele der politischen Bioökonomiestrategien, die aus den zuvor geschilderten globalen Herausforderungen hervorgehen, sind sehr ambitioniert und ihre Erreichung durch die Bioökonomie entsprechend alles andere als trivial. Dies gilt gerade für die synchrone Erreichung dieser Ziele in ihrer Gesamtheit, da sie auch einige Widersprüche und Konflikte...

Die Probleme, denen sich die Menschheit heute und in Zukunft stellen muss, sind komplex, multidimensional und mit hohen Unsicherheiten behaftet. Einfache Lösungen gibt es nicht. Ein politisches Konzept, das einen nachhaltigen, umweltschonenden Umgang mit den natürlichen Ressourcen verfolgt, ohne die Wirtschaft und den damit verbundenen Lebensstanda...

Die Herausforderungen, denen sich die Menschheit im 21. Jahrhundert stellen muss, sind multidimensional und auf vielfältige Weise miteinander verknüpft. In diesem Kapitel werden vier wichtige Aspekte vorgestellt und näher beleuchtet: Der Anstieg der Weltbevölkerung und der Urbanisierung, die Verknappung fossiler und mineralischer Rohstoffe mit ihre...

The concept of the bioeconomy has risen to great popularity with governments around the world as a new paradigm for a sustainable economy. However, it is still highly contentious what the bioeconomy actually is or should be, which results in a certain vagueness of bioeconomy policy strategies. European bioeconomy policy is a prime example of this....

Bioeconomy policy is often labelled a policy field or at least an emerging policy field. But is it really one? And how can one tell and what does it mean? Drawing on the scarce research on what exactly are policy fields and what are the factors driving their emergence, we aim to answer these questions based on the definition of a policy field as a...

Was genau wird unter Bioökonomie verstanden? Was sind die Hintergründe? Welche Ziele verfolgen Regierungen in ihren Bioökonomiestrategien und in welchem Verhältnis stehen die verschiedenen Ziele zueinander? Im Zentrum des Konzepts der Bioökonomie steht ein Wandel in der Rohstoffwirtschaft. Rohstoffe sollen aus der lebendigen Umwelt gewonnen werden...

Dieser Beitrag dient dazu, mein Konzept für eine politikwissenschaftliche Nachhaltig-keitslehre darzustellen und deutlich zu machen, welchen Beitrag die Politikwissenschaft für Nachhaltigkeit spielen kann und wie dieser in der universitären Lehre zum Gegen-stand gemacht wird. Darüber hinaus beschäftige ich mich mit der Frage, wie normativ eigentlic...

Drawing on regional governance and policy network literature, we plan to conduct a comparative study of two representative Laender in Germany, Thuringia and Schleswig-Holstein, to explain patterns and variations in subnational climate governance. The objective of this research endeavor is twofold: First, it offers new insights into climate change m...

Academic and practical actors have made new claims to foster the link between research, policymaking and sustainability. While some argue in favor of a democratization of knowledge through transdisciplinary research, others suggest that planetary boundaries require urgent political measures that need to be implemented – if necessary – against estab...

Political solutions for achieving sustainability are dependent on scientific expertise. Many actors consider that necessary political changes for sustainability transformations (for example in the fight against climate change) are far too slow if even happening. As a result, substantially different discussions can be observed in the political and s...

Wissenschaftliche Politikberatung ist an der Schnittstelle zwischen politischem System und Wissenschaftssystem angesiedelt. Sie dient dazu, wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse den Akteuren des politischen Prozesses zur Verfügung zu stellen, und umgekehrt die Nachfrage der Politik nach wissenschaftsbasierten Lösungen zu bedienen. Dabei nutzen Politikerin...

Landscape planning has been advocated by many researchers and conservationists because of its potential to support nature conservation at broad spatial scales. We examined an internationally funded project in Vietnam (the ECOLIME project) that failed in its endeavor to establish landscape planning at the scale of an ecologically valuable karst land...

Der Begriff „Bioökonomie“ ist ein programmatischer Begriff und umschreibt im deutschsprachigen Raum das Ziel einer umfassenden Nutzung des Rohstoffs Biomasse als Basis des Wirtschaftens. Die Nutzung von Biomasse wird in einen stofflichen und einen energetischen Nutzungspfad unterteilt, wobei ressourceneffiziente Systeme mit Koppel- und Kaskadennutz...

Successful scientific knowledge transfer is an increasingly important area in addressing complex problems of biodiversity conservation. This article employs the Research(R), Integration (I), and Utilization (U) model of scientific knowledge transfer (RIU) to analyze the activities of research, integration and utilization in the establishment proces...

Um die Ziele der Energie- und Wärmewende zu erreichen, stehen politischen Entscheider*innen verschiedene politische Instrumente zur Verfügung. Auf Basis eines Literaturreviews prüfen wir in einer Fallanalyse für den Bereich Wohnen, inwieweit diese auf ökologische Nachhaltigkeit konzentrierten Instrumente im Spannungsverhältnis zur sozialen Nachhalt...

Linking biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation has been a major challenge, especially in developing countries. There have been many attempts to explain successes and failures of strategies combining biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation. However, little attention has been paid to assessing the influence of knowledge transfer...

Red lists of threatened species have been a powerful instrument to interact loss of biodiversity in many countries. However, there have been growing concerns over the scientific basis of red lists and the influence of red lists on conservation policy formulation. This article explores science–policy interface in the development and use of the Vietn...

In 2011, five German beech forest areas were declared to be part of the World Heritage property “Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany.” Thus, they now share the same status as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and East Africa’s Serengeti. This paper analyzes the science–policy interface behind the nominati...

„Political processes of bioeconomy between economy and ecology. Regulating the use of woody biomass for power and heat/cold generation in Germany.“ Oral presentation on the conference Biomass to Power and Heat, Zittau http://ipm.hszg.de/veranstaltungen/biomass-to-power-and-heat-2018.html

„Bio-Ökopoli. Politische Prozesse der Bioökonomie zwischen Ökonomie und Ökologie." Posterbeitrag auf der Forschungsmesse der Fakultät für Humanwissenschaften der Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

„Political processes of bioeconomy between economy and ecology. The role of wood as a resource for bioenergy production in the bioeconomy.“ Oral presentation on the 2nd International Forest Policy Meeting, Wageningen https://www.wur.nl/en/About-Wageningen/100years/show/Second-International-Forest-Policy-Meeting.htm

Abstract: The paper locates the debate on regional development in large-scale protected areas in the political-science discussion on governance and regional governance. The aim is to demonstrate that there are three primary reasons why governance is of relevance for large-scale protected areas: 1. due to a changed understanding of nature protection...

Future economic growth in all sectors must be compatible with the SDGs. Forest policy faces the challenge of balancing different claims: Besides the provision of wood, forests contribute to recreation and health, biodiversity protection and climate protection. Approximately 60% of global GHG emissions can be assigned to the energy sector, making it...

Der Klimawandel und die Globalisierung der Märkte beeinflussen zunehmend unsere Gesellschaft. Ein zukunftsfähiges, nachhaltiges Landmanagement hat diesen Entwicklungen Rechnung zu tragen. Es muss sich neu ausrichten und dabei seine Ziele und Maßnahmen so konzipieren, dass es flexibel auf sich ändernde Rahmenbedingungen reagieren kann. Im Verbundpro...

A number of different approaches have been used to explain the successes and failures of biodiversity conservation strategies in developing countries. However, to date, little attention has been paid toward assessing the influence of knowledge transfer between science, policy, and conservation practices in the implementation of these strategies. Vi...

Umweltschäden sind häufig das Ergebnis einer wirtschaftlichen Nutzung natürlicher Ressourcen (Döring und Töller i. E.). Da Umweltpolitik meist auf die Regulierung solcher wirtschaftlichen, insbesondere industriellen Tätigkeiten abzielt, spielen Wirtschaftsverbände in umweltpolitischen Entscheidungsprozessen in aller Regel eine wichtige Rolle. Dabei...

The success of scientific knowledge transfer depends on if the decision maker can transform the scientific advice into a policy that can be accepted by all involved actors. We use a science–policy interactions model called research–integration–utilization to observe the process of scientific knowledge transfer in the case of endangered mangroves in...

The aim of this study is to clarify the roles of researchers in forest policy development processes. Comparative case studies between Japan and Sweden were conducted. The research-integration-utilisation (RIU) model on scientific knowledge transfer was employed as a framework. Based on the RIU model, 'scientist', 'integrator', and 'policy entrepren...

Science-based win-win solutions could become a basis for policy-making; however, they are significantly influenced by local knowledge rather than peer review. Studies have shown that the success of win-win policy implementation is influenced by discourses between the state and citizens. This study reflects the process of developing science-based wi...

The successful transfer of scientific knowledge is an increasingly important activity for addressing complex problems of biodiversity conservation. This study used the Research-Integration-Utilization model of scientific knowledge transfer to analyze the research, integration, and utilization activities in the establishment process of Ngoc Son Ngo...

The objective of this study is to analyse the role of science in the Japanese forest policy process. Based on the analytical RIU (Research – Integration – Utilisation) model, this study shows that science matters. During the alternative specification phase of the Japanese Forest and Forestry Revitalisation Plan especially, scientific research resul...

Im aktuellen Koalitionsvertrag der Bundesregierung werden zwei Programme skizziert, von denen für den bundesweiten Auenschutz in Deutschland entscheidende Impulse erwartet werden: Das Nationale Hochwasserschutzprogramm und das Bundesprogramm “Blaues Band”. Die politikwissenschaftliche Forschung weist auf die Aufgabe von wissenschaftsbasierter Polit...

The aim of this study is to clarify the roles of researchers in forest policy development processes. Comparative case studies between Japan and Sweden were conducted. The research–integration–utilisation (RIU) model on scientific knowledge transfer was employed as a framework. Based on the RIU model, ‘scientist’, ‘integrator’, and ‘policy entrepren...

As long as fracking was not regulated separately, it fell under the regulation of the Federal Mining Act (Bundesberggesetz, BbergG), which does not grant a great deal of weight to environmental considerations, procedurally or substantively. It was only briefly before the summer recess of 2016 that the German Bundestag yet enacted a new regulation p...

Successful Scientific Knowledge Transfer for the Environment ▶ A clear road map that shows how to transfer scientific results into practice and political action ▶ A new checklist to assess scientific knowledge transfer from research projects and programs into political practice ▶ A new model that explains the complex process through which scientifi...

Like the two friends sharing a beer in the first chapter, many researchers in the environmental sciences experience frustration because practical actors do not follow their scientific advice. Conversely, many politicians are frustrated with the naivety of natural scientists regarding the potential for political implementation of their recipes. The...

The case studies we have conducted, described below, were part of the research project, “Optimisation of Scientific Knowledge Transfer from the Environmental Sciences” (Optimierung des Praxistransfers aus den Umweltwissenschaften).

The starting point of our RIU model of scientific knowledge transfer is a wish to better explain the conditions under which environment-related scientific information can influence political (or practical) decisions. Our view on scientific knowledge transfer is from the perspective of political science.

The magic promise of policy and science is to improve life for mankind. The basic idea is to handle and solve problems actively instead of accepting the threats and hardship of life.

The RIU Model is an analytical tool for the identification of the critical factors that shape the transfer of scientific knowledge to policy making. Therefore, in addition to aiding the analysis of scientific knowledge transfer cases, the RIU model can help improve knowledge transfer and its evaluation.

Bereits bei der Entwicklung der deutschen Umweltpolitik kam den Ländern eine wichtige Rolle zu, weil sie – schon vor der Entstehung einer Bundesumweltpolitik – in verschiedenen Bereichen „umweltrechtliche Pioniergesetze“ verabschiedeten (Kloepfer 2012, S. 409). Insbesondere seit der Grundrechtsänderung von 1972, die dem Bund Kompetenzen für die Abf...

A “linear” scientific knowledge transfer from science (“truth”) to political practice (“power”) does not seem to be possible. Therefore an alternative understanding of scientific knowledge transfer is suggested: In the RIU-model, scientific knowledge is produced in the science system (Research), and science-based problem solutions are utilized with...

Das Konzept „Regional Governance;“ spielt in der Regionalentwicklungspolitik für ländliche Räume seit Jahren eine große Rolle. Der folgende Beitrag stellt die wichtigsten konzeptionellen Grundlagen von Regional Governance aus politikwissenschaftlicher Sicht dar, zeigt deren Relevanz für die Entwicklung ländlicher Räume in Deutschland anhand konkret...

ICPP - International Conference on Public Policy Milan 2015

Neben dem Klimawandel stellt die Sicherung der globalen Biodiversität eines der zentralen Themen der internationalen Umwelt- und Naturschutzpolitik dar. Dabei müssen politische Entscheidungen auf der Basis wissenschaftlicher Evidenz, z. B. in Bezug auf den Verlust der Biodiversität und die Identifizierung zu schützender Arten getroffen werden. Der...

International nature conservation policy is an interesting field for analyzing science-policy interfaces as political decisions have to be taken based on scientific evidence, for instance about the loss of biodiversity and identification of endangered species. The international trade of species is regulated under the Convention on International Tra...

Since a direct, so-called “linear” scientific knowledge transfer from science to political practice does not seem to be possible, we suggest an alternative model of the science–policy-interface. This model understands scientific knowledge transfer as the connection between research (R), integration (I), and utilization (U)—the RIU model. Within thi...

Zusammenfassung Der Klimawandel ist eine der zentralen Herausforderungen des 21. Jahrhunderts. Um den Übergang in eine emissionsarme Wirtschaft zu schaffen, bedarf es eines Strukturwandels in den ökonomischen Schlüsselsektoren und auch Veränderungen im Konsumverhalten. Diese gesellschaftliche Neuausrichtung politisch zu gestalten hat sich in den ve...

Der vorliegende wissenschaftliche Hintergrundbericht wurde im Rahmen der begleitenden Implementationsevaluation des Forschungsvorhabens nordwest2050 entwickelt. Das Forschungsprojekt nordwest2050 hatte das Ziel, gemeinsam mit Akteuren aus Wirtschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft einen Fahrplan zur Anpassung an den Klimawandel für die Metropolregion Bre...

So kann erfolgreicher Wissenstransfer aus den Umweltwissenschaften aussehen: Im Pinzgau arbeiten BürgerInnen mit Forschenden an einer langfristigen Strategie zur Regionalentwicklung. In der Region Schladming verändert die Seilbahnwirtschaft ihre Haltung zum Klimawandel aufgrund wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse. Die Stadt Wien nimmt als Konsequenz ei...

Policy-makers articulate a growing need for science-based policy advice that supports their decisions, especially infields that are dependent on scientific knowledge like natural resources or forestry. Publicly funded organizations, such as departmental research institutes, have been established in many countries to provide science-based policy advic...

This GPS-Special issue deals with the role of voluntary approaches in German environmental policy. While the editors of this volume are rooted in public policy research, with some interest in German environmental policy in particular (see Böcher & Töller 2012a), the authors of this volume come from a broader range of sub-disciplines of political sc...

In order to initiate processes of regional governance connected with achieving specific policy goals higher state levels use hierarchical incentives. One of such incentives is the instrument of yardstick competition by which specific regions should be "discovered" showing great promise for achieving policy goals like sustainable rural development....

Der Beitrag untersucht die Rolle von Ressortforschungseinrichtungen für die wissensbasierte Politikformulierung von Ministerien anhand des Beispiels des Bundesumweltministeriums und dessen Beratung durch das Umweltbundesamt (UBA). Die Fragestellung lautet, wie die ministerialen Ansprüche an diese Beratung durch die Organisation und Arbeitsweise von...