How Institutions Change Perspectives on Social Learning in Global and Local Environmental Contexts

In April 1997 a group of social scientists in Germany came together to form a task force on institutional dimensions of global environmental change. At the time they were all engaged in research projects funded by the German Re­ search Council (DFG) within its Priority Programme "Global Environmental Change - Social and Behavioural Dimensions". Coming initially from the fields of political science and sociology they were motivated by a common interest in advancing knowledge on processes of institutional change relevant to major environmental problems. By exploring the capacity of diverse disci­ plinary approaches to explain institutional change and by exchanging knowl­ edge on environmental institutions in various social, cultural and political settings they aimed to shed fresh light on the complex dynamics of institu­ tions. By 1999 the task force had grown in numbers and scope to include geographers, cultural anthropologists and cultural psychologists, reflecting a unique and broad spectrum of social science research into institutions and the environment. The new members brought not only new disciplinary perspec­ tives to the group, but also an interest in a wider range of institutions func­ tioning at different societal levels and in new cultural settings, including de­ veloping countries. This book is the principal product of the task force.

Reshaping Institutions - Linking Institutional Change to Social Practice - Institutionalising Social Learning. Contributions from: Dr. Heiko Breit, Dr. Thomas Döring, Prof. Dr. Lutz Eckensberger, Dr. Anita Engels, Dr. Florian Dünckmann, Michael Huber, Dr. Claudia Mayer, Ronald Mitchell, Dr. Timothy Moss, Dr. Andreas Obser, Dipl. Geogr. Verena Sandner, Bernd Siebenhüner, Dr. Markus Troja, Dr. Thomas Widlok

Dr. Heiko Breit, Deutsches Institut für internationale pädagogische Forschung, Frankfurt a.M., Germany; Dr. Anita Engels, Institut für Weltgesellschaft, Fakultät für Soziologie, Universität Bielefeld, Germany; Dr. Timothy Moss, Institut für Regionalentwicklung und Strukturplanung (IRS), Erkner, Germany; Dr.Markus Troja, MEDIATOR GmbH, Oldenburg, Germany.