Séminaire ANR MetaOrgTrans : Meta-organizations and ocean governance

Kurt Rachlitz (NTNU) Meta-organizations and ocean governance

"How Do Meta-Organizations Produce Knowledge and Advice for Sustainability Transitions? A Case Study on the Protection of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems"

Résumé: 

Recent literature has led to a wealth of evidence on how meta-organizations are involved in sustainability transitions. However, scholars so far have paid surprisingly little attention to meta-organizations that do not themselves make collectively binding decisions, but which provide knowledge and advice to organizations that do. Our paper closes this research gap by using Guston’s (2001) three criteria of boundary organization as an analytical framework to unpack the production of knowledge and advice for the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Our study draws upon extensive interviews of ICES personnel. Our contribution to the literature is twofold: first, we provide insight into how knowledge-producing meta-organizations are involved in sustainability transformations. Second, we contribute to the research on tensions in meta-organizations.