Policy Roadmap Research Articles

Care and the 53rd Commission on the Status of Women: a transformative policy space?

In March 2009, UN member states met at the 53rd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to discuss the priority theme of “the equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS”. This meeting focused the international community's attention on care issues and generated Agreed Conclusions that aimed to lay out a roadmap for care policy. I examine how the frame of “care” – a contested concept that has long divided feminist researchers and activists – operated in this site. Research involved a review of documentation related to the meeting and interviews with 18 participants. Using this research I argue that the frame of care united a range of groups, including conservative faith-based actors who have mobilized within the UN to roll back sexual and reproductive rights. This policy alliance led to important advances in the Agreed Conclusions, including strong arguments about the global significance of care, especially in relation to HIV; the need for a strong state role; and the value of caregivers' participation in policy debates. However, the care frame also constrained debate at the CSW, particularly about disability rights and variations in family formation. Those seeking to reassert sexual and reproductive rights are grappling with such limitations in a range of ways, and attention to their efforts and concerns can help us better understand the potentials and dangers for feminist intervention within global policy spaces.

Diversity and Creativity as Seedbeds for Urban and Regional Dynamics

The present study aims to investigate: (i) whether, why and how diversity affects the creative capacity of cities and regions, (ii) under which conditions diversity can be the source of urban and regional competitive advantage in knowledge-intensive activities and (iii) which are the key assets, infrastructures and policy tools required to foster the development of creative, competitive and cohesive places. Diversity and creativity are complex and multi-faceted issues, and to understand their roles and effects, contributions from various social sciences are required. Therefore, the study examines the dynamics of diversity and creativity at different levels from individual to group and society, at different scales from team or organization to cities and regions and from different perspectives including the disciplines of psychology, sociology and economics. While underlying the interconnection between diversity and creativity, the study specifically focuses on the direct economic, social and spatial implications of diversity and creativity in cities and regions. Why some places (cities and regions) are more attractive than some others for diverse and creative people and innovative and creative activities? The paper aims to put current debates about diversity and creative cities in context and perspective. The discussion considers the policy roadmap to the creative city and challenges for governments.

Hydrogen Without Tears: Addressing the Global Energy Crisis via a Solar to Hydrogen Pathway [Point of View

In this paper, the dominant scaleable vision is a solar-hydrogen economy, where solar thermal collectors are preferred to solar cells. Also for mobile storage, pure hydrogen (liquid and/or gas) is preferred to both electric batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. Placing this form of a solar hydrogen economy as an end vision on our energy policy. Governments profits, as they can build solar farms on a grand scale, with high levels of public acceptance, building stability and economy. A solar-hydrogen economy is of no threat to any existing industry-like fossil-fuel industry, petrochemical industry, nuclear power stations, nonsolar-sector renewable industries, such as wind, geothermal, etc., power generation industry, car manufacturing industry and the solar cell industry as hydrogen can be produced by even by splitting water, in fact, it is the bedrock upon which existing industries can anchor their longterm survival. Every energy source has its niche, and placing each in its correct perspective is the way forward to a viable energy policy roadmap.

Challenges and Prospects for the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice: Recommendations to the European Commission for the Stockholm Programme

The upcoming Swedish presidency of the EU will be in charge of adopting the next multiannual programme on an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ), during its tenure in the second half of 2009. As the successor of the 2004 Hague Programme, it has already been informally baptised as the Stockholm Programme and will present the EU’s policy roadmap and legislative timetable over these policies for the next five years. It is therefore a critical time to reflect on the achievements and shortcomings affecting the role that the European Commission’s Directorate-General of Justice, Freedom and Security (DG JFS) has played during the last five years in light of the degree of policy convergence achieved so far. This Working Document aims at putting forward a set of policy recommendations for the DG JFS to take into consideration as it develops and consolidates its future policy strategies, while duly ensuring the legitimacy and credibility of the EU’s AFSJ within and outside Europe.

Soft energy paths in Japan: a backcasting approach to energy planning

Japan has recognized the need to make significant reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including CO2, but Japanese energy policy is fragmented and ineffective in coping with the challenge. Highly controversial options have been included in its strategy. Against this background, the current Japanese energy policy is reviewed and alternative future options are proposed, with their implications examined in the real policy context. A backcasting methodology, which creates a normative vision and identifies policy paths to attain the vision, is identified as a highly relevant conceptual framework for the analysis. Four visions are presented, within which subsequent policy packages and detailed policy paths are created. Two-tier evaluation stages are set to validate the policy packages and paths, through discussion with key Japanese energy experts. The study provides an insight into the effectiveness of the methodology, and implications of the proposed visions and policy packages. A series of innovations are made, including the ‘policy road map’ as an effective tool that links the backcasting framework and strategic policy discussions.

Operationalization of space/time perspectives of individuals—Theory and empirical results from Turkey

The overall aim of the research is to provide an evaluation of differences in time and space perspectives of individuals in Turkey in order to understand the different approaches, perspectives or priorities that they may bring to futures studies. An empirical study aimed to collect information about the varying differences in time and space perspectives among participant individuals (undergraduate and PhD students at Yeditepe University and managers at Siemens-Turkey) and any other possible factors affecting the participants’ choices. Two sets of statements are generated representing the time and space perspectives of participants using the modified constructs found in the literature such as “ Time Strata”, “ Space–Time Graph”, and “ Different Time Frames and Activities”. Our sample population of 185 individuals indicated a time horizon of 4.8 years and space horizon of 530 km. Majority of the sample population is observed to be concerned with issues that affect only their close environment over a short time period of “next week”, along with their larger geographical area as the “city”. A few of the sample population indicated to have a global perspective on time and space that can further reach into the future. Literature suggesting different individuals having different perspectives on time and space, depending on culture, past experience and the nature of the problems are instrumentalized in our study by relating it to the foresight tools and methodologies. Such varying perspectives may explain individuals/managers’ time and space horizon in which they think and act/execute. Based on the analysis of space/time preference of participant individuals, policy makers will benefit from incorporating the diversity of time and space dimensions into their strategic thought and national policy roadmaps. This exploratory study is comprised of the assessment of differing definitions and approaches to the future via individuals’ space and time perspectives. It aims to contribute to foresight methodologies and approaches, as well as bringing a significant impact on the quality and success of the national foresight project results.

Energy efficiency, innovation, and job creation in California

Global climate change poses significant risks to the California economy. Recognizing and responding to these threats, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order #S-3-05 (Schwarzenegger 2005) which called for a 30 percent reduction below business-as-usual of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. In September 2006, the California legislature passed and Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law the historic Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), which mandates a first-in-the-nation limit on emissions that cause global warming. In June 2006, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released a “Draft Scoping Plan” – the policy roadmap to meet the emissions reduction target of 169 Million Metric Tons of Carbon (MMTCO2) equivalent by 2020 to stabilize at 427 MMTCO2 overall. The CARB board will take up final adoption of this plan in December 2008. During the months leading up to this decision, a financial crisis of global proportions is unfolding. The state, nation and world are caught in serial market failures sparked by the collapse of the housing credit market, and there is much speculation about the impact of declining capital gains revenue on the state budget. Against this backdrop, Energy Efficiency, Innovation, and Job Creation in California analyses the economic impact of CARB’s past and future policies to reduce fossil fuel generated energy demand. California’s achievements in energy efficiency over the last generation are well known, but evidence about their deeper economic implications remains weak. This study examines the economy-wide employment effects of the state’s landmark efficiency policies over the last thirty-five years, and forecasts the economic effects of significantly more aggressive policies proposed to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

Liberalization and Private Sector Involvement in the Water Industry: A Review of the Economic Literature

The theoretical and empirical literature on water supply and sewerage liberalization is reviewed in this paper in order to discuss the potential for market creation and private sector involvement in this sector. The analysis is framed in the “policy roadmap” developed by regulatory economics and discusses opportunities for competition in the market, unbundling, competition for the market and yardstick competition. A review of studies comparing privately and publicly managed water utilities is finally provided.

Managing drought in the United States: A roadmap for science and public policy

By 2050, the average moisture conditions in the southwestern United States will rival the worst conditions observed in the 1953–1956 and 2000–2003 droughts. These changes will be a consequence of increased temperatures and will occur even if precipitation levels remain fairly constant. As a result, all predicted scenarios of Colorado River flow at Lees Ferry, Ariz, indicate that within 20 years, discharge there will be insufficient to meet current consumptive water resource demands.This sobering analysis was presented by Martin Hoerling and Jon Eischeid of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the meeting Managing Drought and Water Scarcity in Vulnerable Environments—Creating a Roadmap for Change in the United States, presented by the Geological Society of America (GSA) in partnership with 20 other scientific organizations. Participants, including physical scientists, life scientists, social scientists, policy makers, Native Americans, water managers, and water users, represented a broad and diverse range of interests. Some preliminary findings are as follows.