Influencing Multilateral Policy Processes Through Science

Abstract

In Part II of this book, I theorised that the influence of science on multilateral negotiation could be understood through 4 criteria: representation and access, the organisation of epistemic communities, framing and temporal dynamics. The empirical analysis presented above reveals several theoretical and practical insights that augment these criteria, which are here explored in order to better explain the influence of scientific evidence in multilateral policy development, for example, under representation and access the space afforded by new institutional arrangements was a recurrent theme of the interviews. Meanwhile each epistemic community demonstrated highly diverse influencing and engagement approaches, suggesting that the modalities of engagement for non-state actors are wholly contingent on the structure and coherence of their community.