I've also found the policy concepts of 'wicked' and 'super wicked' problems helpful over the past few years in reflecting on complex policy issues such as the Australian Government's responses to climate change. The role of powerful networks of influence is clearly pertinent.
Greenpeace's video, resulting from investigations by journalist Michael West and the Greenpeace team, is an excellent resource to stimulate discussion of the impact of 'Big Coal' on the Australian Liberal National Party Government's climate change 'policy' responses and the climate change debate.
Re-reading the following extracts on wicked and super wicked problems from Chris Reidy's article 'Climate Change is a Super Wicked Problem' in the light of the current catastrophic, indeed apocalyptic, bushfire crisis in Australia, I have some hope that there will be a move towards a more complex and appropriate climate policy responses at the Federal level.
"In Tackling Wicked Problems from the Australian Public Service Commission:
- Wicked problems are difficult to clearly define — different stakeholders have different views of what the problem is and appropriate responses
- Wicked problems have many interdependencies and are often multi-causal — there may be conflicting goals for those involved
- Attempts to address wicked problems often lead to unforeseen consequences — wicked problems exist in complex systems that exhibit unpredictable, emergent behaviour
- Wicked problems are often not stable — understanding of the problem is constantly evolving
- Wicked problems usually have no clear solution — there is no right or wrong response, although there might be worse or better responses
- Wicked problems are socially complex — it is social complexity, rather than technical complexity, that is overwhelming
- Wicked problems hardly ever sit conveniently within the responsibility of any one organisation — these problems cross governance boundaries
- Wicked problems involve changing behaviour — with all the difficulties that poses
- Some wicked problems are characterised by chronic policy failure — they have become intractable, despite numerous attempts at solutions...."
"Climate change as a ‘super wicked’ problem....According to Kelly Levin and co-authors, super wicked problems are a new class of global environmental problem with four key features:
- time is running out
- those who cause the problem also seek to provide a solution
- the central authority needed to address them is weak or non-existent
- irrational discounting occurs that pushes responses into the future.
Chris Riedy is the Professor of Sustainability and Governance at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney
Reidy, Chris (2013) 'Climate Change is A Super Wicked Problem' https://medium.com/@chrisjriedy/climate-change-is-a-super-wicked-problem-b2e2b77d947d. "highlights the difficulty we have in making headway on dealing with climate change, and many environmental issues" Peter Maddock.