This book analyses the evolution of the sustainability discourse in the European Union, exploring the conditions necessary for sustainable development to move from a conceptual model into a model for action for strategic decision makers at all levels of governance. This book questions the extent to which the discourse on sustainability has become embedded into governance structures in Europe. It focuses on the importance of the nature of the language of the political discourse on sustainability and how ideas are communicated amongst the actors and stakeholders in the policy making process, as well as assessing the conceptual, political, institutional and operational barriers apparent across the European geographic region. Drawing case studies from numerous policy areas including climate change, EU emissions trading scheme, renewable energy, nuclear energy, the European integrated energy market, transport mobility, and environmental protection, expert contributors unveil a narrowing of the discourse on sustainability that has taken place in Europe. However, a considerable discontinuity remains between the economic and environmental objectives of sustainable development, and the authors argue that it is essential that conditions for a dynamic discourse, open to multiple participants, are developed. Sustainable Development and Governance in Europe will be of strong interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, governance, sustainable development and environmental politics and studies.

This book analyses the evolution of the sustainability discourse in the European Union, exploring the conditions necessary for sustainable development to move from a conceptual model into a model for action for strategic decision makers at all levels of governance. This book questions the extent to which the discourse on sustainability has become embedded into governance structures in Europe. It focuses on the importance of the nature of the language of the political discourse on sustainability and how ideas are communicated amongst the actors and stakeholders in the policy making process, as well as assessing the conceptual, political, institutional and operational barriers apparent across the European geographic region. Drawing case studies from numerous policy areas including climate change, EU emissions trading scheme, renewable energy, nuclear energy, the European integrated energy market, transport mobility, and environmental protection, expert contributors unveil a narrowing of the discourse on sustainability that has taken place in Europe. However, a considerable discontinuity remains between the economic and environmental objectives of sustainable development, and the authors argue that it is essential that conditions for a dynamic discourse, open to multiple participants, are developed. Sustainable Development and Governance in Europe will be of strong interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, governance, sustainable development and environmental politics and studies.

This unique book expertly analyses European political entrepreneurship in relation to the European Union’s approach towards the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development strategy. It explores the role of European political entrepreneurs in shaping, influencing and realising the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Chapters examine EU actors in the context of numerous development goals to assess how political entrepreneurship challenges traditional EU institutions and promotes visionary activity.

The book explores how implementation strategies engage sub-national, regional and local actors in the promotion of sustainable development. Following the obligations incurred at the Rio Earth Summit and the related UNCED process, European states began to produce sustainable development strategies in the 1990s. Implementation efforts are increasingly using ‘new’ governance arrangements, including: use of public/private partnerships new policy tools policy transfer and benchmarking policy networks and involvement of stakeholder groups and institutional capacity enhancement. The editors, whom are leading experts on the subject, explore the nature, extent and characteristics of the new governance arrangements that have been put in place to implement sustainable development strategies and initiatives at the sub-national levels. They also examine the approaches that sub-national governments adopted towards the mobilization of ‘stakeholders’ in these initiatives and what type of non-governmental actors have become involved. In Pursuit of Sustainable Development will be of interest to students and researchers of politics, development, geography, planning and social policy.

This book highlights the importance of the subnational level of governance in relation to sustainable development, exploring how subnational governments have taken up the challenge to design sustainable development policies and their involvement in international decision-making on sustainable development.

This book provides a detailed overview of governance for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adopting a unique integrative approach, it examines the fragmentation of governance that is a critical barrier to achieving the SDGs. The main question addressed is: What are the crucial elements and the organizing logic of an integrative framework that is suitable for analysing governance for the SDGs and for implementing the transitions that we need towards a more sustainable world? This transdisciplinary book first proposes a combination of innovative governance theories that can improve the analysis and practice of sustainability governance. Secondly, it explores the interests of core actors in a number of case examples. And thirdly, it offers recommendations for improving the study and practice of sustainability governance. The findings presented form the basis for a new approach to governance towards objectives such as the SDGs: Integrative Sustainability Governance (ISG). The ensuing ISG framework includes indicator frames within the pillars of power, knowledge and norms. The book concludes that the transformation of crisis into sustainability transitions requires a deeper consideration of risk management that strengthens resilience; systems deliberation that complements democracy; and behavioral insights that elevate human awareness and collaboration. This handbook is a comprehensive and valuable companion for students, experts and practitioners with an interest in the SDGs.

The Politics of Sustainable Developmentanalyzes how the theory of sustainable development has been related to the practice and how it has been applied within Europe at all levels of government from the EU down to the sub-national local level. The essays included here begin with an analysis of the ambiguities inherent in sustainable development and the contestable nature of the concept. The contributors explore how far it is possible to reconcile economic growth with environmental needs, asking whether sustainable development can promote equity and development. The book breaks fresh ground in assessing the impact of deep ecological thought on sustainable development as part of a new typology of the concept. The second section examines how sustainable development has been interpreted at EU and sub-national levels within the member states, with examples drawn from the Mediterranean and Northern European countries. Contrasting interpretations of sustainable development are examined,considering political and administrative conflicts, the influence of cultural factors, and tensions between different levels of government. The ambiguity of sustainable development has led to extensive confusion and created the need for a clearer consensus among policy-makers as to how the concept should be interpreted.

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.

Bressers, Rosenbaum, and their contributors analyze what, until recently, has been among the least examined issues implicit in the growing global discourse about sustainable development: the creation of institutions and processes for effective governance of sustainability policies. The creation and endurance of governance institutions capable of implementing sustainability policies is, in fact, fundamental for any viable conception of sustainable development. The analyses focus not only on how societies can organize, but on how they do organize to overcome such daunting obstacles in the Netherlands, the Northwest United States, Costa Rica, Madagascar, Senegal, and the European Union. The writers focus particularly upon the special problem embedded in the sustainability paradigm, that of organizing governance across scales—that is to say, across and between geographic, political, ecological, or other social levels in a sustainable regime. In recent years the scale problem has emerged as a major and enlarging concern, as international efforts proliferate to implement various sorts of sustainability policies. The analyses focus not only on how societies can organize, but on how they do organize to overcome such daunting obstacles. The analyses place considerable emphasis upon the history and lessons to be learned from ongoing efforts to achieve such governance in several diverse international settings including the Netherlands, the Northwest United States, Costa Rica, Madagascar, Senegal, and the European Union.