Cultural Imprints on Scientific Policy Advice: Climate science–policy interactions within Austrian neo‐corporatism

Abstract

AbstractClimate policy is a prime example of the growing importance of expert advice. A plethora of advisory bodies and processes have emerged around the world to inform mitigation and adaptation policies. However, there are marked differences in the organization and practice of science–policy interactions in national contexts.Against this background, the article aims to provide an in‐depth account of the imprints of the peculiar Austrian neo‐corporatist culture on scientific advice in the new field of climate policy. Because scholars have observed a decline in the underlying Austrian political culture, we aim to clarify whether a hybridization of neo‐corporatist and pluralist advisory features can be found or to what extent neo‐corporatist advisory patterns still prevail in the new domain of climate policy. Our research draws on the approaches of ‘national styles of policy‐making’ and ‘civic epistemologies’ to develop an analytical framework. We briefly present the main features of Austrian climate policy before analyzing pertinent patterns of scientific advice. Our article particularly focuses on mapping the actors and organizational advisory formats, categorizing the selection criteria for researchers’ expertise, assessing the overall relevance of scientific knowledge and identifying dominant patterns of science–policy interactions. Overall, our analysis indicates that neo‐corporatist advisory features prevail in Austrian scientific climate policy advice. Only a limited extent of pluralist patterns and, therefore, a low degree of hybridization could be revealed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment