Task 5 (Assignment) IPCC Case

In this task you will work on a small assignment, in which you analyse the debate about the role of the IPCC.

The assignment involves reading a few texts and answering some questions. Please post your answers on the discussion forum.

• Read the articles by Berkhout (2010), van der Sluijs et al. (2010) and Jasanoff (2010)

Assignment

• Based on the documents, your own insights and what you learned from the VVM debate and the other videos in Task 1, formulate answers to the following questions:

- What kind of organization is the IPCC? Where would you position the IPCC on the interfaces between science, policy and society, and why? And what does this mean for the kind of knowledge that the IPCC produces?

- The IPCC/Climate Gate scandal can be interpreted as a contest about the boundaries of science (see e.g. Berkhout 2010). What was this contest about? (Who were the ‘contesters', what exactly were the boundaries being contested and who were ‘defending' them and how?)

- How can IPCC/Climate Gate be interpreted in the light of recent debates about the role of science and scientific expertise in society? (see also the VVM debate)