TY - JOUR

T1 - "Sustainability State” in the Making?

T2 - Institutionalization of Sustainability in German Federal Policy Making

AU - Heinrichs, Harald

AU - Laws, Norman

PY - 2014/5/5

Y1 - 2014/5/5

N2 - More than two decades after the Rio-conference on environment and development in 1992, sustainable development remains a big challenge. Politics and administration, especially in democratic societies, have a specific responsibility in coordinating sustainable development. In order to fulfill this role, the regulative idea of sustainability needs to be integrated into decision-making in politics and administration at all levels, from local to global. Taking this into account, we have analyzed the institutionalization of sustainability as a crosscutting and long-term challenge at the federal level in Germany. Based on a theoretical-conceptual framework deriving from democracy, bureaucracy and political steering/governance theory, we have employed qualitative methods to understand, in depth, how sustainability is integrated into political-administrative practice. In the present paper, we present key results and show that sustainability is not a routine practice at the federal level in Germany. We will conclude by giving an outlook on the structural and procedural options and argue for the need to develop a “sustainability state”.

AB - More than two decades after the Rio-conference on environment and development in 1992, sustainable development remains a big challenge. Politics and administration, especially in democratic societies, have a specific responsibility in coordinating sustainable development. In order to fulfill this role, the regulative idea of sustainability needs to be integrated into decision-making in politics and administration at all levels, from local to global. Taking this into account, we have analyzed the institutionalization of sustainability as a crosscutting and long-term challenge at the federal level in Germany. Based on a theoretical-conceptual framework deriving from democracy, bureaucracy and political steering/governance theory, we have employed qualitative methods to understand, in depth, how sustainability is integrated into political-administrative practice. In the present paper, we present key results and show that sustainability is not a routine practice at the federal level in Germany. We will conclude by giving an outlook on the structural and procedural options and argue for the need to develop a “sustainability state”.

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Bureaucracy

KW - Democracy

KW - Governance

KW - Institution

KW - Qualitative research

KW - Sustainability state

KW - Politics

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/c7cefa1d-7beb-331a-8b35-9ca72906f8ca/

U2 - 10.3390/su6052623

DO - 10.3390/su6052623

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 6

SP - 2623

EP - 2641

JO - Sustainability

JF - Sustainability

SN - 2071-1050

IS - 5

ER -