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Sociology as a discipline is concerned with relationships. The relationship addressed in this book, is the one between society and nature. More specifically, the process of making pollution and the environmental condition relevant for – and in – parliament is used as an analytical prism to gain better understanding of that relationship. Building on theoretical perspectives from pragmatic moral-political sociology developed by Boltanski and Thévenot, the changing valuation of «nature» and «the environment» in Norwegian parliamentary debates is analysed: When and how is nature made a relevant for parliament? How is nature valued in these debates? How are decisions on environmental- and petroleum policy legitimated? What kind of knowledge is made relevant? In what ways have parliamentary debates changed over time and how can we understand these changes? Empirical data is an extensive sample of Norwegian parliamentary debates in the period 1945–2013. The book maps the historical trajectory of the political conflicts on the environmental consequences from industry in Norway, and the petroleum industry in particular. The analysis exposes how the form of valuable nature has changed substantially over time. That is, what makes nature valuable for parliament has changed over time. The changing form of valuable nature also has consequences for how pollution should be avoided and what kind of policy instruments that are considered relevant. In the early 20th century nature was primarily regarded as a robust and unchangeable entity. Starting from the early 1950s this understanding of nature is undergoing impor- 10 GISLE ANDERSEN | PARLAMENTETS NATUR tant changes. Rather than being viewed as a robust entity, nature is to larger extent seen as fragile and should be protected from humans: Nature should be conserved. During the next decades the relevant form of nature to protect is gradually redefined as «the environment». In contrast to the idea of protecting «nature» from humans, pollution was primarily a problem because it harmed the human environment. A significant change occurred during the 1990s. The Norwegian parliamentary debates from this period are characterised by a harsh ecological self-critique. This had several consequences, among them a new environmental statute in the Norwegian Constitution. A new way of valuing nature emerged: What is valued is not nature «itself» but the function that nature has for humans, the conservation of nature understood as a «life supporting production system» for humanity. This view of nature specified the valuation of nature as anthropocentric. Another important dimension of the new way of valuing nature is that it clearly limited what form of nature that should be protected: It is legitimate to pollute and to harm parts of nature, but only as long as one does not threaten the production system that humans depend upon. As long as an activity can go on without diminishing the functional utility of nature for humanity; use, change and destruction of nature can be considered legitimate. This could be understood as a minimum definition of sustainability. These changes are linked to the ways the modern societies today responds to, and tries to control, global environmental change.

Environmental policy

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In Italy, public policies have difficult processing, and even more difficult implementation. It is normal for a number of unexpected side effects to occur as a result of a public policy. Likewise, it is normal that a public policy determines an impact which is appreciated ex post, but cannot be identified with the original, designed one. So much so that many policies resemble a bet, rather than a project. In other words, they are always exposed to a universe of factors and circumstances which may destroy or change their theoretical assumptions, independently from any effective and measurable government capacity. This is the sign of a democratic regime's structural fragility and of the government capacity expressed by it: its difficulty in feeding its policies with sufficient legitimizing doses and tools in order for the policies to achieve the desired effectiveness. It is a classic theme for political science; in this volume, it is revisited in the light of the different types of empirically conceivable legitimization and of the contemporary state's ability to produce social regulation.

Public policy.

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"This book is about how new and underutilized types of big data sources can inform public policy decisions related to workforce development. Hawley describes how government is currently using data to inform decisions about the workforce at the state and local levels. He then moves beyond standardized performance metrics designed to serve federal agency requirements and discusses how government can improve data gathering and analysis to provide better, up-to-date information for government decision making"--

Manpower policy

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"The climate crisis is the greatest existential threat humanity faces today. The need for a radical societal transformation in the interests of social justice and ecological sustainability has never been greater. But where can we turn to find systemic alternatives? From India, Turkey and Bolivia, to Venezuela, Canada and Lebanon, Just Transformations looks to local environmental struggles for the answers. With each case study grounded in the social movements and specific politics of the region in question, this volume investigates the role that resistance movements play in bringing about sustainable transformations, the strategies and tools they utilise to overcome barriers, and how academics and grassroots activists can collaborate effectively. The book provides a toolkit for scholar-activists who want to build transformative visions with communities. Interrogating each case study for valuable lessons, the contributors develop a conceptualisation of a just transformation that focuses on the changes that communities themselves are trying to produce."

Environmental policy

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The political economy of the European 18th century declares economics to be a basic human condition. This phenomenon is summed up in the present study under the term "anthropologizing of the economic" and examines how treatises by Spanish reform economists from the late 18th century are reflected in sentimental economic comedies of the late Enlightenment. For the first time since Schumpeter, the study, located at the interface between literary studies, cultural studies and the history of economic theory, offers a German-language overview of the currents of economic thought in Enlightenment Spain and its predecessors, based on current research. In doing so, she establishes references to developments in France, England and Germany on the levels of economic and theater reform. Based on the knowledge that when talking about economic people (homo oeconomicus), the economic man (vir oeconomicus) is usually meant, she develops a set of conceptual tools for Analysis of the recurring economic character types in Spanish reform theatre. By examining comedies from the period between 1762 and 1805, she differentiates between gender-specific incarnations of good and bad management in trade, industry and agriculture, ranging from the vir oeconomicus to the femina profusa are sufficient. In addition to the transfer processes between economic and theatrical discourse, the study pays special attention to the burgeoning liberalism and to a connection between the economic and the religious that is specific to Spain. For its interdisciplinary character, it was awarded the sponsorship prize of the University Society of Münster e.V.

Economic policy.