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The governance of sustainable development (Baker 2016) (Distinctive…
The governance of sustainable development (Baker 2016)
Introduction
The pursuit to sustainable development raises a series of complex questions about how society can be steered towards an overarching objective. Inputs from an array of societal actors and institutions are required
Concept of governance
Governance- managing, steering and guiding action in the realm of public affairs, involves steering and control from the centre, interaction between governent, public bodies, private sector and civil society aimed at addressing public policy issues
Governance occurs through either hierarchies, markets and networks. Top-down command and control, market-based forms of resource allocation, public-private collaboration
Sustainable development and governance- promoted using different styles of governance
Hierarchial steering
- state goal directed intervention, continual process of making, amending and enforcing regulation and legislation. Method for formalising policies for sustainable development. State needs to stimulate and facilitate a process of societal change- a key agent. Public subsidies and grants. Argued- the continuance of a pro-active state is essential if the inter-generational aspects of sustainable development are to be respected. Re-ordering social institutions in this pursuit. State has to intervene in the face of market failure- cannot be left to achieve public goals- falls on the state, market cannot meet wider societal objectives. Private economic activity produces negative externalities. Most governments have taken a proactive approach in sustainable development strategies.
Challenges to traditional governance
- complex, dynamic and interdependent nature of contemporary problems and policy making, the state does not have the knowledge and resource capacity to tackle problems unilaterally. Resulted in actors, agencies and processes operating at the supranational level e.g. EU. Also the term governance came to be associated with the promotion of democratic pluralism, greater participation of social actors in policy making. Downward governance processes in regional and local authorities and upwards at the international level
Market governance for sustainable development
- latter half of 20th c- significant increases in the range of market based instruments in environmental management- subsidies, emission charges and tradeable permits. Ensure producers and consumers take account of the environmental implications of their actions- to change behaviours over command and control. Voluntary agreements- negotiated agreements- but can this protect the environment. Case of plastic bag levy in Ireland
Using networks and public-private partnerships
- fluid set of state and societal actors linked together by specific interests and resource relationships. Include membership drawn from NGOs, the private sector, business associations, trade unions, non-government and voluntary bodies. Advantages and disadvantages. The UN Global Compact is a good example. Problems- waste management in Ireland- turned waste into a profitable commodity that does little to encourage waste reduction
The right governance mix
Each government style has its own role to play- network governance can lay the basis of long-term support, market governance can stimulate entrepreneurship and self-regulatory responsibility and hierarchical governance can kick start action and ensure transparency, accountability and legitimacy of governance
The mix of governance needs to reflect the social, cultural and political characteristics of a country or a region as well as the particular sustainable development challenge that policy is trying to address
Distinctive governance requirements
Two characteristics of sustainable development. 1. the scale of social transformation needed and the character of the steering logic involved in promotion efforts
1. the scale of transformation
- understanding SD as a dynamic concept as well as a multi-dimensional one that requires actions across a variety of temporal and spatial scales , e.g. taking account of future generations. Involves decoupling economic development from environmental harm and social exclusion and inequality. Require changes in both production and consumption . Steering society towards new cultural values
The steering logic
- distinctive features and major steering challenges. An open ended rather than defined process, characteristics changing over time, across space and within different social, political, cultural and historical contexts. Governance has to cope with the complexity and indeterminacy of sustainable development as a steering objective
Steering for the long term
- intergenerational element , put future problems on the present agenda , institutional flexibility to anticipate and handle unforseen problems or opportunities . Reflexive governance seen as the best way to deal with the steering logic of sustainable development
Steering through multiple levels and sectors
- important role played by sub-national, regional and local authorities in the promotion of sustainable development. Complex multi-governance structures and processes such as environmental NGOs operate across multiple levels. Vertical and horizontal co-ordination within and between each level.
Reflexive governance
Seeks to find ways to address and handle the uncertainty between cause and effects relations and feedback's that occur between sustainable development steering activities
Further adjustments are made as environmental, social and economic conditions change , requiring participatory goal formulation and interactive processes between societal actors for the elaboration of sd strategies
Can be seen to represent the assertion of the intent to 'socially engineer'. Also downplayed the political dimension of reflexive processes ans for its silences on issues of power and the way the distribution of power shapes steering outcomes, also leaves out who wins and looses in transitions as they are steered in specific directions
Further adjustments
The concept of governance can be understood not only as a description of changing patterns in the ways society is steered but as a normative prescription
Need for instigating governmental processes that encourage and facilitate radical transformations of patterns of production and consumption
Further deep rooted changes are needed- integrating the economic, social and environmental dimensions of decision making across society
Conclusion
To what extent tdo existing governance styles help to promote sustainable futures
No one actor can govern sustainable development, increasingly non-state actors share responsibility with the state
All the approaches have in common the belief that intervention in pursuit of SD is possible and potentially effective