Influencing the Climate - explorations in interpretive and value-critical policy analysis

Abstract

Inaugural Lecture delivered on the 16 December 2010, upon the acceptance of the Endowed Chair of Human Development, Development Ethics and Public Policy, established by the EUR Trust Fonds, at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam.

My academic work is located at the intersection of public policy analysis, ethics and international development studies. I begin the lecture by saying something about that combination and intersection. Then I will illustrate it, through a look at current discussions about responding to anticipated global climate change: ‘the craziest experiment mankind has ever conducted’ according to a recent editorial in The Economist newspaper (25 Nov. 2010).