Implementing Sustainable Development
Strategies and Initiatives in High Consumption Societies
Lafferty, William M.,
Professor of Political Science,
University of Oslo
Meadowcroft, James,
Senior Lecturer, Department of Politics,
University of Sheffield
Print publication date: 2000
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2003 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-19-924201-6 doi:10.1093/0199242011.001.0001 |
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Abstract:
This volume examines the response of governments in the industrialized countries to the challenge of sustainable development. It focuses on the response of central governments in Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, the USA, and the EU. The study shows that sustainable development has been integrated into governmental idiom in most jurisdictions, and has come to be associated with a series of changes to the structures and approaches deployed to manage environmental problems. Yet, it also reveals significant differences of interpretation and priority across the governments surveyed. The study pays particular attention to various understandings of sustainable development, institutional reform, government engagement with other societal actors, national plans and strategies, and the policy areas of climate change and biodiversity.
Keywords: biodiversity, climate change, comparative politics, developed countries, environmental problems, governance, institutional reform, strategy, sustainable development Table of Contents
1.
Introduction
2.
Australia: Ecological Sustainable Development in the National Interest
3.
Canada: From Early Frontrunner to Plodding Anchorman
4.
Germany: Regulation and the Precautionary Principle
5.
Japan: Law, Technology, and Aid
6.
The Netherlands: Ambitious on Goals—Ambivalent on Action
7.
Norway: Reluctantly Carrying the Torch
8.
Sweden: Progression Despite Recession
9.
The United Kingdom: From Political Containment to Integrated Thinking?
10.
The United States: ‘Sorry—Not Our Problem’
11.
The European Union: Integration, Competition, Growth—And Sustainability
12.
Patterns of Governmental Engagement
13.
Concluding Perspectives
Bibliography
Index
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