Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Throughout this topic, we have seen numerous examples of infor-
mational governance, which were backed, facilitated, conditioned or
complemented by conventional (national or international) state regu-
lation. In various situations informational governance only could func-
tion and exert power when conditioned or legally codified by environ-
mental laws. But, in other situations, informational governance does
operate without such state backing.
4. Variations: regions, networks and fluids
In distinguishing and categorising such differences in informational
governance, also in relation to conventional modes of governance, the
sociology of networks and flows - as presented in Chapter 2 -ishelpful.
In developing his sociology of networks and flows, Urry ( 2003 ) sug-
gests approaching spatial patterns of social relations in three ways or
modalities: regions refer to objects geographically clustered together;
globally integrated networks consist of more or less stable, enduring
and predictable relations between nodes or hubs, stretching across dif-
ferent regions, with relatively walled routes for flows; and global fluids
are spatial patterns determined neither by boundaries nor by more or
less stable relations, but, by and large, flexibility and liquidity. In each
of the three modalities, we can identify different roles for informational
governance.
With respect to objects that are geographically clustered together,
informational governance is still strongly related to conventional
modes of environmental governance, in which states and societies are
relevant categories to understand environmental reform. Information
disclosures, company environmental reporting, monitoring activities
and programs, e-governance and the like are not necessarily performed
by state authorities, but often the environmental state does plays a
role in coordinating, sanctioning, codifying or facilitating such infor-
mational forms of environmental governance. Data-driven regulation
(Esty and Rushing, 2006 ) and informational regulation (Kleindorfer
and Orts, 1999 ) are typical products of informational governance in
regions, as they emphasise informational innovations in relation to con-
ventional environmental governance. Moreover, power relations and
environmental politics are still strongly tied to conventional resources
and certainly not fully replaced to the domain of media, symbolics
and information. We also can witness national or regional 'styles' of
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