39: Science, Technology and Environmental Politics

David Konisky, University of Missouri, koniskyd@missouri.edu

The meeting's overall focus on the "Politics of Hard Times" is especially appropriate for the study of science, technology, and environmental politics, and the section encourages proposals that directly engage with the conference theme. What do today’s economic challenges mean for the politics and policy of climate change and other pressing environmental issues, domestically, comparatively, and internationally? What are the political and policy implications of the unprecedented investment in basic and applied scientific research in the areas of energy and technology as part of the economic stimulus package? Will the economic downturn lead to more difficulty in addressing tradeoffs between economic growth and environmental protection, or generate new momentum toward environmentally-sustainable growth?

As always, the section seeks a wide range of theoretically grounded and methodologically rigorous proposals that contribute to our knowledge of science, technology, and environmental politics. Of particular interest are proposals that integrate across these fields, and that challenge traditional institutional, disciplinary, and methodological boundaries. Proposals that engage scholars from other sections are also strongly encouraged.