Capacity Building
Sustainability Governance and Grassroots Democracy: Indigenous Identity Politics and Local Development in Japan and Taiwan
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ching-Ping Tang
This project explores the impacts of democratic Identity and recognition politics on sustainable development (SD). As sustainable development returns to attract worldwide attention, political scientists seemly remain silent. Political studies can contribute to pursuing sustainable development goals by having self-interest “rightly understood” and identifying the leverage points for system change from a complex system perspective. Specifically, this research examines how identity and recognition politics, the core democratic issues, may impact the practices of SD. It cites the cases of Ainu in Hokkaido, Japan, and Atayal in New Taipei, Taiwan, to show how such soft ingredients as cultural traditions and value systems can catalyze indigenous initiatives toward sustainability transition. The challenges and the experimented solutions are also analyzed in the cross-country comparison.
Developing Strategic Responses for Local Governments to Address Climate Challenges: Capacity Building in Climate Action
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alicia Betancourt, Ramona Madhosingh-Hector
Many local governments are ramping up their capacity to address complex issues such as sustainability and resilience, given the global context of climate change stressors in a post-pandemic era. Crafting any meaningful effort consists of needs assessments to determine appropriate strategies to inform the development of suitable programs. A 2021 survey of municipal governments in Florida (N=178) indicated that many governments still have internal education issues surrounding climate concepts, are interested in environmental impact and resilience strategies, need assistance with community engagement and education, and could benefit from climate science data that addresses economic concerns. Municipalities are particularly concerned about economic loss, increased infrastructure costs, and loss of natural resources. Barriers to addressing the climate emergency include lack of capacity (i.e., staff, finances), community proactivity and readiness, political will, and collaboration in a bureaucratic model. University of Florida Extension faculty developed and deployed a comprehensive Climate Smart Floridians educational training program to address some of these concerns. This is complemented by regional and/or individual government efforts to conduct baseline greenhouse gas inventories, collect diverse community input to inform local government action plans, and provide internal staff training to support a climate-aware culture. Within this project, Extension faculty have conducted relevant needs assessments, interviewed key stakeholders, conducted community education events and forums, and identified issues for developing alternative options. The insights gained from this work will be invaluable in other projects and offer a blueprint for replicating similar projects in other communities.
Bridging Humanitarian Protection and Sovereignty: Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of EU Member State Responsibilities in Asylum Governance
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kelly Soderstrom
European Union (EU) member state responsibilities are central to asylum governance and crisis response, yet are rarely the focus of empirical analysis by scholars. It is important to understand how responsibilities related to both humanitarian protection and sovereignty play a role in shaping state action, since asylum governance is characterized by the management of tensions by governments between humanitarian protection and state sovereignty. Within the EU, member state responsibilities related to asylum are shaped by humanitarian and sovereignty imperatives within the context of supranational governance institutions resulting in prescribed state actions. This paper investigates the relation among EU member state responsibilities and asylum governance through a conceptual examination of the construction of state responsibilities in global statist and regional supranational systems. By critically analyzing state responsibilities associated with humanitarian protection and sovereignty, this paper synthesizes a typology of state responsibilities in asylum governance. The analysis identifies four types of state responsibility related to humanitarian protection (general, reparative, remedial, and distributive) and three state responsibilities related to sovereignty (civil, legal, and political). These responsibilities prescribe responses to asylum crises which governments must discharge through policy design and implementation. The paper argues that in responding to asylum crises, governments will select policy instruments which navigate the tensions among these responsibilities. The typology of state responsibilities developed in this paper provides a useful framework for future empirical research analyzing the drivers of EU member state actions in responding to asylum crises and helps expand our understanding of implementation gaps in asylum governance.
