The governance of sustainable development: taking stock and looking forwards

Exploring what meanings have been attached to the two essentially contested terms of 'governance' and 'sustainable development'

Abstract: The number of books and papers bearing the terms `sustainable development' and `governance' in their titles has grown exponentially in the last decade or so. The main purpose of this presentation is to explore what meanings have been attached to these two essentially contested terms and to assess the extent to which this work constitutes an important, coherent, and cumulative body of scholarship. The first half will explore the existing literatures on the two terms and draw out some of the main similarities and differences. Drawing on a recently edited collection of chapters in Adger, W.N. and A.J. Jordan (eds) (2008) Governing Sustainability (Cambridge University Press), the second half will focus on the attempts that have been made to build empirical and/or theoretical bridges between the two terms. The concluding part will identify a number of key themes and explore future research needs in what is evidently a vibrant and highly policy-relevant area of environmental social science research.

Andrew Jordan is Professor in Environmental Politics at the RAE 5** School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. Andrew is particularly interested in the governance of environmental problems in different political contexts, but especially the European Union. He has won several prizes for his work on governance and Europeanization and his volume - The Coordination of the European Union (with A. Schout, Oxford University Press, 2006) was awarded the Contemporary European Studies association’s annual prize.

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