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Biofuels research: Perceptions of power and transition
Fakultät für Umwelt und Natürliche Ressourcen
Autoren:
Partzsch, L.
Titel:
Biofuels research: Perceptions of power and transition
Kurzzitat:
Partzsch, L.: Biofuels research: Perceptions of power and transition Energy, Sustainability and Society, 2017; 7 (14): 1-10. (download: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186%2Fs13705-017-0116-1.pdf)
Publikationstyp:
Originalarbeiten in wissenschaftlichen
Fachzeitschriften
Abstract:
Whether biofuels represent a sustainable innovation, a creative alternative, or a gold rush, very much depends on our perception of power and change with regard to sustainability. This article provides an overview of existing understandings of power in the research on biofuels, including positive perceptions that often lead to more optimistic evaluations of biofuels. It exposes the diversity with which one can understand power through three ideal type concepts: “power with,” “power to,” and “power over”. Integrating these concepts in one power framework allows for examining how the three dimensions interrelate with each other and developing the contours of a power lens on biofuel governance and research. With the 2007–2008 food price crisis, critics re-politicized the governance of biofuels. Several farmer associations have completely turned against biofuels. The article argues that this rejection of biofuels is due to a limited perception of power as a coercion and manipulation (power over). While the current governance of biofuels basically reproduces systems and positions, we should start to more seriously and intensively ask questions of where, when, and how the governance of biofuels may also allow for “green” resistance (power to) and collective empowerment (power with).
Kontakt:
Professur für Sustainability Governance (Institut für Umweltsozialwissenschaften und Geographie) Tennenbacher Str. 4 79106 Freiburg
Tel: ++49 761 203 3708 Fax: ++49 761 203 3729 Email: Michael.Pregernig@envgov.uni-freiburg.de
https://www.envgov.uni-freiburg.de/prof-sugov
Forschungsbericht der Abteilung für das Jahr 2017 |