Description
Book SynopsisThis book deals with the issue of sustainable development in a novel and innovative way. It examines the governance implications of reflexive modernisation - the condition that societal development is endangered by its own side-effects. With conceptualising reflexive governance the book leads a way out of endless quarrels about the definition of sustainability and into a new mode of collective action.
The authors assert that sustainability is not a defined end-state, but should be understood as the capacity of society to learn about the conditions of its future existence and wants. This requires, in their view, a specific kind of problem solving framework which emphasises the interlinkage of problems and scales, as well as long-term and indirect effects of various actions. Sustainability calls for new forms of governance with attention given to uncertainty, ambivalence about multiple goals and distributed power. The book develops an alternative framework with which to address the challenge of sustainability and derives a set of strategy elements for dealing with sustainability in practice. These are discussed from conceptual as well as practical perspectives.
Bringing recent insights from innovation research, governance studies and complexity theory in common focus, Reflexive Governance for Sustainable Development will be of great interest to researchers in social change, innovation and governance studies, as well as policymakers confronted with sustainable development issues.
Trade Review'In 16 chapters by experts from across Europe, Reflexive Governance for Sustainable Development
explores strategies, policies and programs that may help move us through an era of uncertainty.' -- Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy
'Innovations are introduced in the hope that they will have positive impacts on their targets, but also in the certain knowledge that there will be negative and unintended effects as well. In time, these less desired effects may also come to generate innovative and adaptive responses in a continuous, "reflexive" process. This book sets out to analyse the consequences for sustainability research and policy analysis. This collection, by many of the leading thinkers in the field, blends sophisticated theoretical discussion with practical perspectives on how to deal with the conundrum - the only thing certain about the future is that you'll be wrong about it!' -- Frans Berkhout, Vrije University, The Netherlands
Table of ContentsContents: Preface Part I: Introduction 1. Sustainability and Reflexive Government: Introduction Jan-Peter Voß and René Kemp Part II: Reflections on Reflexive Governance 2. Reflexive Governance: Politics in the Global Risk Society Ulrich Beck 3. Reflexive Modernisation as a Governance Issue, Or: Designing and Shaping Re-structuration John Grin 4. A Co-Evolutionary Approach to Reflexive Governance – and its Ironies Arie Rip Part III: Strategies for Sustainable System Transformation 5.Transition Management: A Reflexive Governance Approach René Kemp and Derk Loorbach 6. Adaptive Management to Restore Ecological and Economic Resilience in the Tisza River Basin Jan Sendzimir, Piotr Magnuszewski, Peter Balogh and Anna Vári 7. Sustainability Foresight: Reflexive Governance in the Transformation of Utility Systems Jan-Peter Voß, Bernard Truffer and Kornelia Konrad 8. Foresight and Adaptive Planning as Complementary Elements in Anticipatory Policy-making: A Conceptual and Methodological Approach K. Matthias Weber Part IV: Knowledge Production and Assessment 9. Precaution, Foresight and Sustainability: Reflection and Reflexivity in the Governance of Science and Technology Andy Stirling 10. The (Re)search for Solutions: Research Programmes for Sustainable Development Katy Whitelegg 11. Integrating Perspectives in the Practice of Transdisciplinary Research Marie Céline Loibl Part V: Development of Technology and Policy 12. Niche-based Approaches to Sustainable Development: Radical Activists versus Strategic Managers Adrian Smith 13. The Sustainable Transformation of Sanitation Bas van Vliet 14. The Transition towards Sustainable Production Systems in Austria: A Reflexive Exercise? Philipp Späth, Harald Rohracher, K. Matthias Weber and Ines Oehme 15. The Transformation of Agriculture: Reflexive Governance for Agrobiodiversity Franziska Wolff Part VI: Conclusions 16. Reflexive Governance: A View on an Emerging Path Jan-Peter Voß, René Kemp and Dierk Bauknecht Index
