Role of the Virtual Stakeholders in the Search of a Balance between Environment, Economy and Society in the Policy Choices Management

The PhD Thesis develops a pre-quantitative methodology to define the direct and indirect effects of policy choices concerning the environment. The main purpose has been to contribute to the solution of some of the problems affecting expert-based judgements: in particular, the dependence on the observer’s goals and beliefs (Reflexivity) and the possibility of making prevalent and accepted an extraneous and non-sustainable solution (Perspectivity). "Policy Choices Analysis and Synthesis System 42" (PoChASSy42) methodology provides a framework which describes the environment through all the possible interactions between: "Individuals Interests", identified as the normative values of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights; "Collective Interests" identified through the economic activities classified by the NACE system of EuroStat; "Ecosystem Services", identified through the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment studies. The elements which make up these spheres of interests are considered as virtual stakeholders, i.e. the representatives of the existence, intentions, motivations and interests that make up the environment. Both the virtual stakeholders and the possible interactions among them are represented in the PoChASSy42 through the development of an Adjacency Matrix and a Narrative Structure (graph). Using these tools, the expert can: find the virtual stakeholders involved in a given policy choice and exclude, declaring the motivations, those which are not present in the particular geographic context. A final report with the results allows for a transparent communication, which is fundamental in order to further counteract the side effects (Perspectivity and Reflectivity) of a reductionist vision of the environment and to accept the challenge of complexity.