ABSTRACT
There is a widespread acceptance that effective multilateral environmental governance requires the involvement of environmental scientists (Gore 1996). Although speaking truth to power has long been a major theme in political science and policy studies (Wildavsky 1979), commentators are increasingly skeptical about whether modelers and scientists are capable of developing truth and whether power ever listens to them anyhow. Indeed, international relations scholars tend to be surprised by the occasions when it does. This chapter applies the political science literature to the related question of when power does listen to science, particularly with regard to the management of complex environmental issues.
