Pieter LEROY

Professor, Nijmegen School of Management

Prof. Dr. Pieter Leroy is Full Professor of Political Sciences of the Environment at the Nijmegen School of Management, Radboud University, the Netherlands, since 1994. He is co-responsible for the (English taught) master’s programme Environment and Society Studies. His research focuses on institutional analysis of environmental politics and policy, in particular on the emergence and functioning of new policy arrangements, in a context of more encompassing societal and political changes. The former comprehend new modes of governance, whereas the latter refer to multi-actor and multi-level governance, to new interrelations between state, market and civil society, to Europeanisation, globalisation, etc. Comparative policy analysis, either cross-sector or cross-national, fits into these latter goals. In addition, his research focuses on topics such as political participation, the science-policy interface, environmental policy reporting and evaluation.

Link to professional website here

> Environmental studies: crossing frontiers while respecting boundaries

From the Malthusian ceiling to the Planetary boundaries, from the need for interdisciplinarity to the call for Living in the Donut, environmentalism and environmental studies seem densely populated with limits, boundaries and frontiers. Some claim to be natural, others are clearly social constructs; and while some order a halt, others rather invite to be crossed. So the ‘facts’ the boundaries and frontiers refer to are ‘norms’ as well? Is environmentalism then about re-demarcating our world, including debating the Cartesian dichotomy? Modernization however, tends to regard the sky as the (only) limit, and aims to endlessly conquer whatever frontier. Ecological modernization seems to echo that, with technology as its stone of wisdom. Maybe environmentalism, after all, is about modesty and respect for boundaries?