ABSTRACT
This chapter now looks in more detail at the political processes and actors that contribute to the adoption of dominant environmental explanations. The chapter will:
discuss the dilemmas of analyzing structure and agency in science-policy, or how specific “actors” may replicate, reform, or co-construct the boundaries or networks of environmental science;
introduce the concept of “boundary organization” as a means of analyzing organizations that shape and enforce linkages between science and policy. The chapter provides examples of boundary organizations from state and non-state sectors, and considers their influence on current topics of environmental debate such as carbon-offset forestry;
analyze further how social movements, as a potent source of social resistance, may challenge or reinforce dominant forms of environmental explanation. This section also includes a critique of some current approaches to political ecology, including resource mobilization and advocacy coalitions, and the impact of social movements on environmental discourses.
