Abstract
The emergence of new institutional arrangements requires new cultural models and discursive practices. This applies regardless of the particular view of institutions we subscribe to. Whether we refer to them in a procedural and organizational sense, or, more loosely, as taken for granted patterns of social interaction, we cannot conceive of institutions without reference to peculiar cultural models (Powell and DiMaggio 1991). It is through cultural production that emerging institutions consolidate by developing specific identities, securing legitimacy, and being perceived as universal (Lanzalaco 1995: 61–65). In this chapter I draw upon this general principle to analyse the institutional impact of the idea of sustainable development (henceforth, SD) in Italy in the 1990s. I discuss whether this concept has at all affected institutional innovation in environmental policy networks, by providing a common cultural frame and thus allowing previously distant actors, with conflicting stakes in environmental policy, to develop some degree of mutual understanding and some procedural consensus on how to address environmental issues.
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Diani, M. (2001). Images of Sustainable Development in Italy. In: Eder, K., Kousis, M. (eds) Environmental Politics in Southern Europe. Environment & Policy, vol 29. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0896-9_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0896-9_13
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