Headline: IASS – Release: „Change through knowledge. Opportunities and challenges of democratic participation: from Stuttgart 21 to the energy transition”

Civil participation and civil engagement experience a renaissance in recent years. Citizens want to be increasingly involved in political decision-making processes. Protests – such as the protest concerning the railway project “Stuttgart 21” – are also an expression of a fundamental change in the understanding of democracy. When it comes to greater participation of citizens, the role of knowledge is of crucial importance: beyond the traditional expertise, important factual knowledge, experience and insights from different perspectives can be incorporated into the political decision-making.

Social change and social knowledge influence each other positively. This is the thesis of the book “Change through knowledge. Opportunities and challenges of democratic participation: from Stuttgart 21 to the German energy transition”, which was edited by IASS Executive Director Professor Dr Klaus Töpfer as well as Dr Dolores Volkert and Ulrich Mans, both scientists at the IASS, and is published on 29^th July at Oekom Verlag.

Due to different experience with “Stuttgart 21”, the expansion plans of the Airport Frankfurt and experiences from the Ethics Commission for a Secure Energy Supply, well-known authors such as Heiner Geißler, Gesine Schwan or Claus Leggewie, Reinhard Loske and Matthias Kleiner draw on the results of the workshop “Change through Knowledge – Knowledge through Change”. This workshop took place in October 2011 at the IASS. The authors discuss, among other things: What are conditions for a successful civic participation? What comes beyond civic participation? What happens with regard to the German energy transition? Will it be possible to activate knowledge that exists in society and dynamically evolves as well as to implement this knowledge in legitimate political decisions?

In terms of their acceptance, the German energy transition has a very good record: The majority of Germans support the nuclear phase-out. However, there has been no generally discussed and accepted way about the “how” of the energy transition. The public debate and participation is necessary for the success of the largest German infrastructure project. The authors of the IASS Release provide some provocative answers to the question of how successful participation models have to be designed and legitimised in order to revive our democratic culture.

Klaus Töpfer, Dolores Volkert, Ulrich Mans (Eds.)
Verändern durch Wissen -

• Content (German only)
• Extract (German only)

The book can be ordered here.