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Sustainability Transitions: A Discourse-institutional Perspective

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Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace

Part of the book series: Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace ((HSHES,volume 10))

Abstract

This chapter addresses the complex web of activities and actors necessary to achieve the much vaunted yet elusive transition to sustainability. The chapter reviews diverse contributions which have in common a concern for the role that language and institutional arrangements play in related developments. These, it is argued, have a capacity that has not been fully realized to improve our understanding of the problems involved, the issues at stake and implications for policy and practice. The chapter presents a framework which is employed to provide orientation for a discussion of these contributions which may otherwise be considered in an isolated manner or with limitations on cross-disciplinary conversation. At the heart of the discussion are sustainability transitions, neo-institutional theory, and critical discourse analysis. The chapter draws on neo-institutional theory and critical discourse analysis to highlight the role of different types of factors and actors implicated in (un)sustainable patterns of production and consumption and the (in)effective governance of environmental sustainabilityrelated science, technology and other phenomena. It considers the potential insights to be gained from application of a discourse-institutional perspective and progress that has been made with the development of such an approach.2

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kingston Business School, Kingston University, Surrey, UK

    Audley Genus

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  1. Audley Genus
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. AFES-PRESS, AG Friedensforschung und Europäische Sicherheitspolitik, Mosbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Hans Günter Brauch

  2. (UNAM), National Autonomous Univ. of Mexico (UNAM), Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    Úrsula Oswald Spring

  3. Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    John Grin

  4. Res. Group Climate Change and Security, Hamburg University ZMAW, Hamburg, Germany

    Jürgen Scheffran

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Genus, A. (2016). Sustainability Transitions: A Discourse-institutional Perspective. In: Brauch, H., Oswald Spring, Ú., Grin, J., Scheffran, J. (eds) Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace . Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43884-9_24

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