Promoting Sustainable Development: The Question of Governance

Abstract

Despite continuing disagreement about the meaning of ‘sustainable development’, the so-called triple-bottom-line trajectory – which would see economic advancement being achieved alongside social equity and environmental security – is viewed as one of the promises for future progress regionally, nationally and globally. At the regional level we are witnessing various experiments in governance that cut across, challenge and undermine existing decision-making structures. They are being developed and implemented because of the perceived failure of older forms of governance to deliver sustainable development. This chapter will examine the ‘regional experiment’ that is occurring within the advanced societies, identifying the general features of the schemes, policies and programmes that are being promoted to bring about sustainable development. From a policy perspective, it will seek to identify the elements, and forms, of regional governance that appear to provide the best options for sustainable development.

Citation

Lawrence, G. (2005), "Promoting Sustainable Development: The Question of Governance", Buttel, F.H. and McMichael, P. (Ed.) New Directions in the Sociology of Global Development (Research in Rural Sociology and Development, Vol. 11), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 145-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1057-1922(05)11006-3