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Democratising Sustainability Transformations : Assessing the Transformative Potential of Democratic Practices in Environmental Governance

Pickering, Jonathan ; Hickmann, Thomas LU orcid ; Bäckstrand, Karin LU ; Kalfagianni, Agni ; Bloomfield, Michael ; Mert, Ayşem ; Ransan-Cooper, Hedda and Lo, Alex Y. (2022) In Earth System Governance 11.
Abstract

Many democracies find it difficult to act swiftly on problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss. This is reflected in long-standing debates in research and policy about whether democratic practices are capable of fostering timely, large-scale transformations towards sustainability. Drawing on an integrative review of scholarly literature from 2011 to early 2021 on sustainability transformations and the democracy-environment nexus, this article synthesises existing research on prospects and pitfalls for democratising sustainability transformations. We advance a new typology for understanding various combinations of democratic/authoritarian practices and of transformations towards/away from sustainability. We then explore the... (More)

Many democracies find it difficult to act swiftly on problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss. This is reflected in long-standing debates in research and policy about whether democratic practices are capable of fostering timely, large-scale transformations towards sustainability. Drawing on an integrative review of scholarly literature from 2011 to early 2021 on sustainability transformations and the democracy-environment nexus, this article synthesises existing research on prospects and pitfalls for democratising sustainability transformations. We advance a new typology for understanding various combinations of democratic/authoritarian practices and of transformations towards/away from sustainability. We then explore the role of democratic practices in accelerating or obstructing five key dimensions of sustainability transformations: institutional, social, economic, technological, and epistemic. Across all dimensions we find substantial evidence that democratic practices can foster transformations towards sustainability, and we conclude by outlining a set of associated policy recommendations.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Earth system governance, Ecological democracy, Environmental democracy, Environmental governance, Sustainability transformations, Transformative governance
in
Earth System Governance
volume
11
article number
100131
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85122819220
ISSN
2589-8116
DOI
10.1016/j.esg.2021.100131
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3c2590f0-7fe8-4e8f-a5b0-140ca446e509
date added to LUP
2022-02-18 12:16:24
date last changed
2023-05-10 11:42:58
@article{3c2590f0-7fe8-4e8f-a5b0-140ca446e509,
  abstract     = {{<p>Many democracies find it difficult to act swiftly on problems such as climate change and biodiversity loss. This is reflected in long-standing debates in research and policy about whether democratic practices are capable of fostering timely, large-scale transformations towards sustainability. Drawing on an integrative review of scholarly literature from 2011 to early 2021 on sustainability transformations and the democracy-environment nexus, this article synthesises existing research on prospects and pitfalls for democratising sustainability transformations. We advance a new typology for understanding various combinations of democratic/authoritarian practices and of transformations towards/away from sustainability. We then explore the role of democratic practices in accelerating or obstructing five key dimensions of sustainability transformations: institutional, social, economic, technological, and epistemic. Across all dimensions we find substantial evidence that democratic practices can foster transformations towards sustainability, and we conclude by outlining a set of associated policy recommendations.</p>}},
  author       = {{Pickering, Jonathan and Hickmann, Thomas and Bäckstrand, Karin and Kalfagianni, Agni and Bloomfield, Michael and Mert, Ayşem and Ransan-Cooper, Hedda and Lo, Alex Y.}},
  issn         = {{2589-8116}},
  keywords     = {{Earth system governance; Ecological democracy; Environmental democracy; Environmental governance; Sustainability transformations; Transformative governance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Earth System Governance}},
  title        = {{Democratising Sustainability Transformations : Assessing the Transformative Potential of Democratic Practices in Environmental Governance}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2021.100131}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.esg.2021.100131}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}