Democratising sustainability transformations
Assessing the transformative potential of democratic practices in environmental governance
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13129155 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeffrey Pickering (0000-0002-1862-3623, University of Canberra), Thomas Hickmann (0000-0001-5072-7855, Lund University, corresponding author), Karin Bäckstrand (0000-0002-8608-8888, Stockholm University), Agni Kalfagianni (0000-0003-3568-8012, Utrecht University), Michael Bloomfield (0000-0002-3381-2756, Centre For Development Studies), Ayşem Mert (0000-0002-5105-1540, University of Duisburg-Essen), Hedda Ransan-Cooper (0000-0002-9053-0229, Australian National University), Alex Y Lo (0000-0002-5953-4176, Victoria University of Wellington) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Pages | 100131-100131 |
| Publication date | 2022-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Earth System Governance (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2589-8116 • E-ISSN: 2589-8116 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.esg.2021.100131 |
| OpenAlex | W4205298166 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 51 |
| References cited | 147 |
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
Authoritarianism · Bureaucracy · Corporate governance · Democracy · Economics · Environmental ethics · Management · Nexus (standard · Political science · Politics · Social sustainability · Sociology · Sustainability · Transformative learning · Typology · Engineering · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Environmental Sustainability in Business · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance · Ecology
Toward a post-carbon society
The Green New Deal
Energías renovables
Policymakers' Perceptions of the Use of Deliberative Mini‐Publics to Support Sustainability Policies
Eco‐Guilt and Eco‐Shame in Translating Green Messaging to Sustainable Action
Sustainable futures
Political-economic transformation and the reproduction of climate change vulnerability of a high-income city
Carving space to learn for sustainable futures
Towards a transformative governance of the Amazon
Making the UNFCCC fit for purpose
Sustainability transformation calls for complexity-informed systemic policy design
Why firms do not expect climate policies to have the intended effects – positioning in a polycentric governance landscape
Beyond Statism and Deliberation
Tracing tacit knowledge of polity research
Design-driven citizen participation towards 1.5-degree planetary diets
What constitutes sustainable agriculture for different audiences in Germany? A comparative analysis of large‐scale text data
Can democratic innovations tackle social-ecological challenges? Gaining insights on transformative governance across European cases
What roles can democracy labs play in co-creating democratic innovations for sustainability
What Determines Country‐Level ESG Performance
Impact of democracy on economic, human, and societal development
Environmental democracy
More than policy neutral
Slippery pathways to socio-ecological utopias of community gardening
Inequality determined social outcomes of low-carbon transition policies
Enabling a just energy transition through solidarity in research
Disrupting to decarbonise socio-energy systems
Understanding the governance of sustainability pathways
Identifying mindsets for urban sustainability transformation
What role for deliberative minipublics in sustainability transformations? An emerging topic for sustainability science
Making sense of power through transdisciplinary sustainability research
Anticipating the Challenges of AI in Climate Governance
Can democracy accelerate sustainability transformations? Policy coherence for participatory co-existence
Localising and democratising goal-based governance for sustainability
What do you mean 'Climate Change'? An analysis of climate change framings in three climate assemblies
Co-producing ‘The Future(s) We Want’
Governance innovations in the coastal zone
Navigating a changing Arctic
Examining the Impact of Environmental Knowingness and Orientation on Environmental Performance
How green is my party? Programmatic stances towards environmental protection in Europe
A systematic literature review of the relationship between the rule of law and environmental sustainability
Media Reform as Transformation Tool
Democracy and the European Green Deal
Democracy and the implementation of the European Green Deal
Post-conventional anthropology
Reform or transform? A spectrum of stances towards the economic status quo within ‘new economics’ discourses
Stalling, straining, severing, shallowing, simulating
Environmental justice in conservation philanthropy
Exporting environmental democracy to international forums
People’s voices for sustainability – Exploring expectations for participatory democratic practices in Europe
Multi-Agent Ethnography
Influencing climate change adaptation in authoritarian states
Staying alive
Policy
The importance of social relations in shaping energy demand
Buen Vivir, Degrowth and Ecological Swaraj
The politics of sustainability transitions
Defining Terms for Integrated (Multi-Inter-Trans-Disciplinary) Sustainability Research
Sustainable development goals for people and planet
Transformative Environmental Governance
Between environmental and ecological democracy
A conceptual framework for understanding the social acceptance of energy infrastructure
Co-producing European climate science and policy
Sustainability Transitions Research
Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene
Agricultural Cooperatives and Farm Sustainability – A Literature Review
Literature review as a research methodology
Understanding carbon lock-in
A safe operating space for humanity
Democratic Reason
The Politics of Green Transformations
Transforming Markets? Activists’ Strategic Orientations and Engagement With Private Governance
The North–South Divide on Public Perceptions of Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering
The Life and Death of Democracy
Down to Earth
Democracy and Climate Change
An Attempt at a “Compositionist Manifesto”
Public participation and climate change adaptation
Degrowth, Democracy and Autonomy
Greening states and societies
Being Alive
NGOs, Ingos, and Environmental Policy Reform, 1970–2010
The Climate Change Challenge and the Failure of Democracy
Towards a Reflexive Turn in the Governance of Global Environmental Expertise. The Cases of the IPCC and the Ipbes
Democracy and climate change policies
Beyond GDP
Governance for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
Leaving no one behind? The influence of civil society participation on the Sustainable Development Goals
Participation and inclusiveness in the Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
Democracy in a Global Emergency
The influence of institutions, governance, and public opinion on the environment
Energy democracy
Energy policy and research
Challenging obduracy
The misallocation of climate research funding
Just transitions
Governing the dark side of renewable energy
Deliberative Mini-Publics and the European Green Deal in Turbulent Times
Does the Conceptualization and Measurement of Democracy Quality Matter in Comparative Climate Policy Research
Knowledge politics and post-truth in climate denial
Transformations to sustainability
Climate activism and its effects
Promises and risks of nonstate action in climate and sustainability governance
Designs on Nature
Rich man’s solution? Climate engineering discourses and the marginalization of the Global South
New alliances in global environmental governance
Earth system governance
Hybrid governance mechanisms as political instruments
Global labour unions and just transition to a green economy
The impact of environmental interest groups in international negotiations
Accountability in Global Environmental Governance
Toward Environmental Democracy? Procedural Environmental Rights and Environmental Justice
Leaders and Laggards
All Hands on Deck”
Brokering Climate Action
Populism and Environmental Performance
Transparency in Global Environmental Governance
Climate justice and sustained transnational mobilization
The labour–nature relationship
Reforming global climate governance in an age of bullshit
Opening up knowledge systems for better responses to global environmental change
Reconfiguring environmental expertise
Global Production Networks and Activism
Emerging markets and private governance
Do eco-labels prevent deforestation? Lessons from non-state market driven governance in the soy, palm oil, and cocoa sectors
The effect of income on the energy mix
Network analysis reveals open forums and echo chambers in social media discussions of climate change
Public values for energy system change
Processes of elite power and low-carbon pathways
Pluralising climate change solutions? Views held and voiced by participants at the international climate change negotiations
Unpacking the unequal representation of Northern and Southern NGOs in international climate change politics
Release the Moths
National Institutions and Global Public Goods
Authoritarian environmentalism and China's response to climate change
Cross-national variation in determinants of climate change concern
Trust gaps in energy transitions
Conceptualizing energy democracy
It Is All about Political Incentives
Pathways to Implementation
V-Dem
The Wisdom of the Many in Global Governance
Democratic inclusiveness, climate policy outputs, and climate policy outcomes
Normative arguments for non-state actor participation in international policymaking processes
Sustainability transitions and the state
Comparing ecological sustainability in autocracies and democracies
New directions in earth system governance research
Global environmental change II
Exploring the governance and politics of transformations towards sustainability
An agenda for sustainability transitions research
Remaking Political Institutions
Who speaks for the future of Earth? How critical social science can extend the conversation on the Anthropocene
The political economy of the 'just transition
| Unique citing works | 51 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 12,75 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 49 |