Samenvatting Sustainability
Politics: Paradigms and Debates
⇒ Lecture 1 tot en met 14: hoorcollegeslides en
aantekeningen
POLITICOLOGIE | POLITICAL SCIENCE
2018-2019
UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Hoorcollege Pagina in de samenvatting
1: Introduction 1
2: Elitist paradigm 15
3: Pluralist paradigm 26
4: Elites, groups, government and the shaping of 34
social change
5: Neo-pluralist paradigm 45
6: Neo-marxist paradigm 54
7: Social movements and sustainability 64
8: Rational choice paradigm 75
9: Neo-institutionalist 88
10: Debate: may firms lead the way to sustainable 100
food?
11: Constructivist paradigm 113
12: Debate 125
13: Debate: can re-thinking change the world? 137
14: Seven Paradigms and the Next Economy 149
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Lecture-1: Introduction to the course: locating political
science and sustainability in Modernity
Introduction: Sustainability? - Development?
- Club of Rome (1972): Limits to Growth
‘a condition of ecological and economic stability that is sustainable far into the future’ and
capable of satisfying the basic material needs of all people.’
- Goldsmith (1972): A Blueprint for Survival
a ‘stable society’ that could be ‘sustained indefinitely while giving optimum satisfaction to its
members’
- Brundtland’s World Commission on Environment and Development (1987)
‘Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.
⇒ Soort definities van duurzame ontwikkeling
Sustainable development: the core
- Fulfilling needs → basic and more
- … in a sustainable way → i.e. lasting solutions rather than short term fixes
- … through a development, i.e. a process of wealth accumulation
- Economic growth OR taking people out of poverty
- For developing countries, development is imperative; for developed countries,
development less so => two tracks (e.g. ‘contraction and convergence’ )
Contraction and Convergence
“ Reducing overall emissions of greenhouse gases to a safe level (contraction), resulting from
every country bringing its emissions per capita to a level which is equal for all countries
(convergence)”
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Sustainability: dimensions
Dimensions:
- Lafferty & Meadowcroft (2000): satisfying basic needs, promoting welfare,
environmental protection, fate of future generations, equity, participation,…
- World Economic Forum (2001): condition of ecosystems, stresses on ecosystems,
implications of stresses for humans, social/institutional capacity to cope with hazards &
exercise stewardship
Sustainability: global objectives for 2030 [UN, 2015]
Development vs. welfare
- Again [Giddens]: development may mean:
- Taking people out of poverty
- Economic growth ≡ growth in Gross Domestic Product
→ GDP = market value of all final goods produced in an economy in a particular
year
- Especially in affluent societies, GDP ≢welfare (geld maakt niet gelukkig)
- Money ≢ happiness => GDP ≢ welfare
- GDP production may yield external effects
If welfare ≢ GDP, then what is welfare? (welzijn)
- Giddens: Genuine Progress Indicator; Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare;
Sustainable Society Indicator
- Other examples: Sarkozy, 2008: asked Stiglitz and Sen to develop benchmarks for
well-being and sustainability. OECD: improved indicators for well-being and
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sustainability Progress of Societies and Better Life Initiative (2017). EU: GDP and
Beyond: tripartite process of re-defining societal progress.
OECD
For the Netherlands: ‘Monitor Brede Welvaart’
- The Dutch version of measures for ‘well-being and sustainability beyond the GDP´:
Monitor Brede Welvaart
- June 2016: Dutch Parliament asked for way to measure well-being and
sustainability beyond GDP → Lintsen (2018: chapter 1)
- May 2018: first monitor: start of an annual tradition
- We will use the example to discuss relations between GDP, well-being and
external effects
Monitor ‘Well being and sustainability’: the basics
- Brundtland: well-being and sustainability
- Current needs of own society
- Needs of future generations
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