Nico Stehr (born 19 March 1942) was "Karl Mannheim Professor for Cultural Studies" at the Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen / Germany and Founding Director of the European Center for Sustainability Research.
Post-industrial society: Innovation are increasingly derivative from research and development; there is a new relation between science and technology because of the centrality of theoretical knowledge, and the weight of the society—measured by a larger proportion of Gross National Product and a larger share of employment—is increasingly shifting toward the knowledge field.
The Hartwell Paper arises from a meeting convened by Professor Gwyn Prins of the LSE in February 2010 to consider the implications of developments in climate policy in late 2009.
The underlying reason for this is that the UNFCCC/Kyoto model was structurally flawed and doomed to fail because it systematically misunderstood the nature of climate change as a policy issue between 1985 and 2009.
It explains the political prerequisite of energy efficiency strategies as a first step and documents how this can achieve real emissions reductions.
The Hartwell Paper advocates funding this work by low hypothecated (dedicated) carbon taxes.
The authors take a comparative and historical perspective and refer to well-known theoretical frameworks, but the focus of the book is on three case studies: the discourse of racism, Keynesianism and climate change.
In all three the authors see a close link between 'knowledge producers' and political decision-makers, but show that the effectiveness of the policies varies dramatically.