Sustainable development brings together a series of normative themes related to negotiating environmental limits, to addressing equity, needs and development, and to the process of transformation and transition. To mark the 30th Anniversary of Our Common Future (1987), that first placed sustainable development on the global agenda, the editors have brought together a group of international scholars from a range of social science backgrounds. They have discussed these same themes ? looking backwards in terms of what has been achieved, assessing the current situation with respect to sustainable development, and looking forwards to identify the key elements of the future agenda. This book presents a series of critical reflections on these enduring themes. The overriding concern is with the present and with the future as the editors seek to explore the question: What next for sustainable development?

A complex relationship exists between democratic politics and the management of the environment. Democracy and the Environment presents major new work on the challenges and dilemmas which environmental problems pose for the processes of democratic politics. The relationship between environmental values and goals and democratic theory and practice is explored through original essays by established scholars whose conclusions are then integrated by the editors into a concluding essay. This major book illustrates and analyses the many ways in which environmental problems pose difficulties for democratic decision-makers. Environmental problems impact across established regional and national boundaries, and involve complex social processes, intricate patterns of loss and gain, and time scales which do not synchronise with electoral political systems. The essays in Democracy and the Environment reflect critically upon the experience of democratic states, explore the contradiction between popular participation and environmental management, and consider the kind of reforms needed to enhance the capacity of democratic systems to handle environmental problems. Focusing on the democratic process and combining theoretical and empirical analysis with discussion of the pragmatic implications, the authors present constructive criticism and analysis which seeks to encourage more effective environmental decision making and the promotion of global sustainable development.

The literature on multi-level governance (MLG), an approach that explicitly looks at the system of the many interacting authority structures at work in the global political economy, has grown significantly over the last decade. The authors in this volume examine how multilevel governance (MLG) systems address climate change and water policy.By taking a comparative perspective, the contributors seek to examine the impact of multilevel governance on the environment. They show how the interplay between autonomous governments at the sub-national, federal or supranational and international levels in MLG systems create unique challenges and opportunities. Both cutting greenhouse gas emissions and allocating river flows require tough political or legal decisions that create winners and losers. This book offers a cogent examination of the successes and failures of the United States, European Union, Canada and Australia in grappling with these policy problems. This book will appeal to academics and students of public policy, international affairs and environment studies. Those working in government institutions will find the research both interesting and invaluable. Contributors: D. Benson, D.J. Fiorino, D. Gordon, B.T. Heinmiller, A. Jordan, K. Kern, D. Macdonald, J. Meadowcroft, M. Pallemaerts, B.G. Rabe, I. Weibust

Over the past decade, carbon capture and storage (CCS) has come to the fore as a way to manage carbon dioxide emissions contributing to climate change. This book examines its introduction into the political scene, different interpretations of its significance as an emerging technology and the policy challenges facing government and international institutions with respect to its development, deployment and regulation. The focus of the book is on the construction of arguments about CCS in the public sphere, the coalitions of actors who have articulated distinctive perspectives on CCS and the varied strategies governments have adopted to integrate it into climate and energy policies. The authors analyse the issues decision-makers now confront in encouraging the uptake of the technology, managing uncertainties and regulating attendant risks. The book includes case studies of the reception of CCS in seven OECD countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. Developments in the EU form the subject of an eighth case study. The authors point to the political significance of CCS as a mitigation option offering a way forward for fossil fuels in a carbon constrained world, while also emphasizing the uncertainties that surround its future development and deployment. Students, scholars and researchers from a wide variety of fields who are interested in climate change, energy policy, and the politics and policy of the environment will find this book illuminating, as will officials and policy makers in international organizations and governments.

The literature on multi-level governance (MLG), an approach that explicitly looks at the system of the many interacting authority structures at work in the global political economy, has grown significantly over the last decade. The authors in this volume examine how multilevel governance (MLG) systems address climate change and water policy.By taking a comparative perspective, the contributors seek to examine the impact of multilevel governance on the environment. They show how the interplay between autonomous governments at the sub-national, federal or supranational and international levels in MLG systems create unique challenges and opportunities. Both cutting greenhouse gas emissions and allocating river flows require tough political or legal decisions that create winners and losers. This book offers a cogent examination of the successes and failures of the United States, European Union, Canada and Australia in grappling with these policy problems. This book will appeal to academics and students of public policy, international affairs and environment studies. Those working in government institutions will find the research both interesting and invaluable. Contributors: D. Benson, D.J. Fiorino, D. Gordon, B.T. Heinmiller, A. Jordan, K. Kern, D. Macdonald, J. Meadowcroft, M. Pallemaerts, B.G. Rabe, I. Weibust

The editors of this volume bring together an impressive cast of scholars on the critical relationship of democracy and governance in sustainable development. It offers an outstanding and timely contribution to the literatures in sustainability, political science, and comparative environmental politics.' - Daniel J. Fiorino, American University, US'This very timely and important collection draws together some of the world's leading thinkers on environment and development to debate one of the most important issues of our time: sustainable development. They very usefully remind us all that in order to be politically sustainable, the sustainability transition will have to find a way to maximise policy synergies in a democratically legitimate manner.' - Andy Jordan, University of East Anglia, UK This insightful book deals with governance of the environment and sustainable development. The contributors explore the difficulties developed countries are experiencing in coming to terms with environmental limits and the resultant challenges to the democratic polity. They engage with different dimensions of the governance challenge including norms, public attitudes, citizen engagement, political conflict, policy design, and implementation, and with a range of environmental problems such as climate change, biodiversity/nature protection, and water management. The book concludes with an essay by William Lafferty that explores the flawed character of the contemporary democratic polity and offers his reflections on possible pathways to reform. This book will interest researchers, academics, and graduate students in environmental politics and public policy. It is ideal for use as supplementary reading in a wide range of university courses, while NGOs and policy-makers will also find it of considerable value. Contributors: C. Aall, S. Baker, E. Bomberg, H.T.A. Bressers, P.-O. Busch, F.H.J.M. Coenen, K. Eckerberg, H. Joergens, W.M. Lafferty, O. Langhelle, L.J. Lundqvist, J. Meadowcroft, G. Mullally, M. Narodoslawsky, A. Ruud, M.A. Schreurs

Exploring the relationship between environmental sustainability and planning, this textbook explores the different implications of sustainability for public planning in the industrialized world. Environmental sustainability has become one of the most salient issues on the policy agenda of nation-states in the late 20th century. However, this book argues that planning is often, wrongly, ignored by advocates of environmental politics. Several major questions are addressed in this volume: what are the consequences of environmental sustainability for current patterns of social steering by the state and socio-economic planning?; what lessons do earlier experiences of social and economic planning in Western democracies have for future sustainability planners?; and what challenges are generated for conventional socio-economic management by specifically environmental planners? These issues are explored by contributors from different intellectual traditions.

Environmental sustainability has become one of the most salient issues on the policy agenda of nation-states. This book argues that planning is seldom credited by advocates of environmental politics. The authors, leading scholars in the field, explore the relationship between environmental sustainability - one of the most important innovations in recent political discourse and planning, an idea which has slipped from public attention recently.

The editors of this volume bring together an impressive cast of scholars on the critical relationship of democracy and governance in sustainable development. It offers an outstanding and timely contribution to the literatures in sustainability, political science, and comparative environmental politics.' - Daniel J. Fiorino, American University, US'This very timely and important collection draws together some of the world's leading thinkers on environment and development to debate one of the most important issues of our time: sustainable development. They very usefully remind us all that in order to be politically sustainable, the sustainability transition will have to find a way to maximise policy synergies in a democratically legitimate manner.' - Andy Jordan, University of East Anglia, UK This insightful book deals with governance of the environment and sustainable development. The contributors explore the difficulties developed countries are experiencing in coming to terms with environmental limits and the resultant challenges to the democratic polity. They engage with different dimensions of the governance challenge including norms, public attitudes, citizen engagement, political conflict, policy design, and implementation, and with a range of environmental problems such as climate change, biodiversity/nature protection, and water management. The book concludes with an essay by William Lafferty that explores the flawed character of the contemporary democratic polity and offers his reflections on possible pathways to reform. This book will interest researchers, academics, and graduate students in environmental politics and public policy. It is ideal for use as supplementary reading in a wide range of university courses, while NGOs and policy-makers will also find it of considerable value. Contributors: C. Aall, S. Baker, E. Bomberg, H.T.A. Bressers, P.-O. Busch, F.H.J.M. Coenen, K. Eckerberg, H. Joergens, W.M. Lafferty, O. Langhelle, L.J. Lundqvist, J. Meadowcroft, G. Mullally, M. Narodoslawsky, A. Ruud, M.A. Schreurs

This book examines how governments in industrialized countries have engaged with the challenge of sustained development over the past decade. Analysis of initiatives undertaken by nine national governments and the European Union reveal important differences in the ways the international commitment to sustainable development has been received.

Over the past decade, carbon capture and storage (CCS) has come to the fore as a way to manage carbon dioxide emissions contributing to climate change. This book examines its introduction into the political scene, different interpretations of its significance as an emerging technology and the policy challenges facing government and international institutions with respect to its development, deployment and regulation. The focus of the book is on the construction of arguments about CCS in the public sphere, the coalitions of actors who have articulated distinctive perspectives on CCS and the varied strategies governments have adopted to integrate it into climate and energy policies. The authors analyse the issues decision-makers now confront in encouraging the uptake of the technology, managing uncertainties and regulating attendant risks. The book includes case studies of the reception of CCS in seven OECD countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. Developments in the EU form the subject of an eighth case study. The authors point to the political significance of CCS as a mitigation option offering a way forward for fossil fuels in a carbon constrained world, while also emphasizing the uncertainties that surround its future development and deployment. Students, scholars and researchers from a wide variety of fields who are interested in climate change, energy policy, and the politics and policy of the environment will find this book illuminating, as will officials and policy makers in international organizations and governments.

This book is concerned with the way in which the concept of the state was invoked in British political argument between 1880 and 1914. It central claim is that the decades bracketing the turn of the century witnessed a significant change in the prevailing terms of British political discourse - that the concept of the state, hitherto a relative stranger to British debate, emerged as a key component of the idiom in which critical reflection on politics was cast. James Meadowcroft surveys the ways in which the state was understood in this period, and also presents a detailed analysis of the conceptions of the state in the work of six prominent theorists: Herbert Spencer, Hugh Cecil, Bernard Bosanquet, L T Hobhouse, J A Hobson and Ramsay MacDonald. This book is intended for historians of political thought intellectual and cultural historians political theorists political philosophers.

This book examines how governments in industrialised countries have engaged with the challenge of sustained development over the past decade. Analysis of initiatives undertaken by nine national governments and the European Union reveal important differences in the ways the international commitment to sustainable development has been received.

L. T. Hobhouse's Liberalism (1911), which has acquired the status of a modern classic, is the most enduring statement of the political principles which animated British liberal social reformers in the early years of the twentieth century. While written in a popular style, it is actually a theoretical work of some subtlety, combining an historical analysis of the evolution of liberal doctrine with a philosophical discussion of the character of liberal belief, and proposing a reformulation of liberalism which emphasises community, individual welfare rights, and an activist state. This 1994 edition of the work includes a number of his other writings from the same period, and will be of interest to a broad range of students and scholars in politics and the history of political thought.

L. T. Hobhouse's Liberalism (1911), which has acquired the status of a modern classic, is the most enduring statement of the political principles which animated British liberal social reformers in the early years of the twentieth century. While written in a popular style, it is actually a theoretical work of some subtlety, combining an historical analysis of the evolution of liberal doctrine with a philosophical discussion of the character of liberal belief, and proposing a reformulation of liberalism which emphasises community, individual welfare rights, and an activist state. This 1994 edition of the work includes a number of his other writings from the same period, and will be of interest to a broad range of students and scholars in politics and the history of political thought.

This major new book reassesses the liberal political tradition in the light of recent intellectual and political developments.Featuring work by leading analysts of liberal thought, this volume examines the links between modern liberalism and earlier liberal variants, addresses contemporary challenges to liberalism, and considers prospects for the future. Anthony Arblaster, Norman Barry, Rodney Barker, Richard Bellamy, Michael Freeden, Elizabeth Frazer, Richard Flathan, Andrew Vincent and Hans Vorlander offer both analytical and historical approaches to understanding liberal thought. Engaging with topical questions and controversies, the authors cover issues including the structure of liberal argument, varieties of liberalism, economic liberalism, liberal constitutionalism, liberalism and feminism, liberalism and postmodernism, and the future of liberal political thought. The Liberal Political Tradition will be of great interest to students and researchers concerned with historical ideas, political ideologies and contemporary political philosophy.

Concepts and their role in the evolution of modern environmental policy, with case studies of eleven influential concepts ranging from "environment" to "sustainable consumption." Concepts are thought categories through which we apprehend the world; they enable, but also constrain, reasoning and debate and serve as building blocks for more elaborate arguments. This book traces the links between conceptual innovation in the environmental sphere and the evolution of environmental policy and discourse. It offers both a broad framework for examining the emergence, evolution, and effects of policy concepts and a detailed analysis of eleven influential environmental concepts. In recent decades, conceptual evolution has been particularly notable in environmental governance, as new problems have emerged and as environmental issues have increasingly intersected with other areas. "Biodiversity," for example, was unheard of until the late 1980s; "negative carbon emissions" only came into being over the last few years. After a review of concepts and their use in environmental argument, chapters chart the trajectories of a range of environmental concepts: environment, sustainable development, biodiversity, environmental assessment, critical loads, adaptive management, green economy, environmental risk, environmental security, environmental justice, and sustainable consumption. The book provides a valuable resource for scholars and policy makers and also offers a novel introduction to the environmental policy field through the evolution of its conceptual categories. Contributors Richard N. L. Andrews, Karin Backstrand, Karen Baehler, Daniel J. Fiorino, Yrjoe Haila, Michael E. Kraft, Oluf Langhelle, Judith A. Layzer, James Meadowcroft, Alexis Schulman, Johannes Stripple, Philip J. Vergragt