Governance for Sustainable Development The Challenge of Adapting Form to Function

About this book

This book is an original study of the challenge of implementing sustainable development in Western democracies. It highlights the obstacles which sustainable development presents for strategic governance and critically examines how these problems can best be overcome in a variety of different political contexts.

The renowned international contributors, including leading policy experts, try to identify the forms of governance necessary to realize the functions of sustainable development. With the help of detailed case studies, they document and analyze specific governance mechanisms for pursuing and achieving this aim. They move on to offer clearly formulated conclusions on the relationship between the demands of sustainable development and the current norms and practices of Western democracy. The book also raises the fundamental question of whether change can ever be achieved if the overriding goal of development is not firmly stated as `sustainability' rather than `business as usual'.

Contents

Preface; 1. Introduction: Form and Function in Governance for Sustainable Development; 2. Implementation Theory and the Challenge of Sustainable Development: The Transformative Role of Learning; 3. Adapting Form to Function?; From Economic to Sustainable Development Governance in the European Union; 4. Management by Objectives: A Comparison of Dutch, Swedish and EU Strategies for Realising Sustainable Development; 5. 'Sustainability is Cool': Rhetorical Participatory Discourse in the Spanish Strategy for Sustainable Development; 6. Participation and Sustainable Development: Modes of Citizen, Community and Organisational Involvement; 7. From Environmental Protection to Sustainable Development: The Challenge of 'De-Coupling' through Sectoral Integration; 8. Partners for Progress?; The Role of Business in Transcending Business as Usual; 9. Governance by Diffusion: Implementing Global Norms through Cross-National Imitation and Learning; 10. Implementing Sustainable Development: How to Know What Works, Where, When and How; 11. Governance for Sustainable Development: Lessons and Implications; References; Index

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