This special issue brings together prominent scholars to explore novel multilevel governance challenges posed by the behavior of dynamic and complex social-ecological systems. Here we expand and investigate the emerging notion of “resilience” as a perspective for understanding how societies can cope with, and develop from, disturbances and change. As the contributions to the special issue illustrate, resilience thinking in its current form contains substantial normative and conceptual difficulties for the analysis of social systems. However, a resilience approach to governance issues also shows a great deal of promise as it enables a more refined understanding of the dynamics of rapid, interlinked and multiscale change. This potential should not be underestimated as institutions and decision-makers try to deal with converging trends of global interconnectedness and increasing pressure on social-ecological systems.
Table of Content
- Andreas Duit, Victor Galaz, Katarina Eckerberg, Jonas Ebbesson: Governance, complexity, and resilience. Pages 363-368.
- Melissa Leach, Ian Scoones, Andrew Stirling: Governing epidemics in an age of complexity: Narratives, politics and pathways to sustainability. Pages 369-377.
- Oran R. Young: Institutional dynamics: Resilience, vulnerability and adaptation in environmental and resource regimes. Pages 378-385.
- Arild Underdal: Complexity and challenges of long-term environmental governance. Pages 386-393.
- Susan Owens: Learning across levels of governance: Expert advice and the adoption of carbon dioxide emissions reduction targets in the UK. Pages 394-401.
- Koko Warner: Global environmental change and migration: Governance challenges. Pages 402-413.
- Jonas Ebbesson: The rule of law in governance of complex socio-ecological changes. Pages 414-422.
