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Taming the Big Green Elephant

Setting in Motion the Transformation Towards Sustainability

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Über dieses Buch

In this open access publication it is shown, that sustainable low carbon development is a transformative process that constitutes the shifting from the initially chosen or taken pathway to another pathway as goals have been re-visited and revised to enable the system to adapt to changes. However, shifting entails transition costs that are accrued through the effects of lock-ins that have framed decisions and collective actions. The uncertainty about these costs can be overwhelming or even disruptive. This book aims to provide a comprehensive and integrated analytical framework that promotes the understanding of transformation towards sustainability. The analysis of this book is built upon negotiative perspectives to help define, design, and facilitate collective actions in order to execute the principles of sustainability.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

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Chapter 1. Introduction—That Big Green Elephant in the Room
Abstract
Transformations, transitions and structural changes are not new to human civilization. Transitions can be emergent, that is, a subservient response to changes such as technological breakthroughs, or purposive, that is, a strategically instigated effort to achieve certain goals. Changes are constantly occurring and define identities, aspirations and how we see our human nature (Menschenbild), how we interact with each other, and how we make sense of the world (Weltbild).
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

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Chapter 2. Global Transformation Towards Sustainability—Clusters of Current Scholarly Discourse
Abstract
Studying global transformation towards sustainability is a colossal task. The difficulties in determining the scope, boundaries and levels of the analysis have ramifications for the conceptual value of attempts to understand global transformation towards sustainability. Because of the plurality of possible entry points as well as the complexity of various issues involved, providing an overview of the academic debate, if one can speak of a single debate on global transformation towards sustainability, is highly challenging.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

Open Access

Chapter 3. Trade-Offs and Turnstiles as the Main Drivers of the Transformation Process Towards Sustainability
Abstract
This chapter is a major pillar of the theoretical framework and reiterates how this book understands the intricacies of decision-making in the context of transformation towards sustainability. It looks at how power, identities, path dependence, emotions, norms, institutions and paradigms can promote or inhibit effective decision-making. This understanding aims not only to achieve the ‘deconstruction’ of paradigmatically ‘given’ terms, which are widespread within and across disciplines, but, equally importantly, to also develop and/or refine decision tools to address complexity and uncertainty.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

Open Access

Chapter 4. A Critical Outlook on Assumptions—Decision Systems in Transformation Towards Sustainability
Abstract
Some assumptions about decision systems in the context of transformation towards sustainability will be presented in this chapter. These assumptions are backed by rationales, which highlight the utility preferences of agents and audience. In addition, trade-offs reflect the selection of the most important caveats that decision-makers are confronted with.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

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Chapter 5. Knowledge Diplomacy as Facilitator of Transformation Towards Sustainability—The “New Diplomacy” and Consensual Knowledge
Abstract
Negotiations over the best way to address climate change and sustainable development are heavily dependent on input from scientific and expert communities. While policy-makers seek to rationalize and thereby legitimate their decisions through evidence-based decisions frameworks, this unprecedented reliance on scientific knowledge has inadvertently led to a perceived erosion of state authority and a weakening of democracy. It has been strongly suggested that the use of scientific knowledge in policy-making is reducing the demand or need for concordant consensus-building, or distorting deliberation processes through the emergence of new forms of dependency.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

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Chapter 6. The Systems Perspective on the Transformation Towards Sustainability
Abstract
From the systems perspective, the ultimate ‘Angst’ of societies is the occurrence of ‘dystopian’ system rupture, which can be the outcome not only of unexpected events leading to the elimination of principles that bind actors together (e.g., identity), but also by purported solutions that create further ‘horrendous’ events. System ruptures are not only linked with natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and pandemics (such as the Ebola outbreak), but also with collapsing national governments and regimes, for example following the outbreak of a popular revolt after a state-sanctioned escalation of violence (e.g., Mubarak’s Egypt and Ghadafi’s Libya) or an outside intervention (e.g., Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq following the US intervention). Assuming that transformation can be either a response to a collapsed system or a preventive effort to avert collapse, this chapter starts by looking at the cognitive aspects of transformation in terms of experiences.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

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Chapter 7. Theoretical Models, Case Studies and Simulation Games as Knowledge and Decision Tools
Abstract
The methodological challenges identified by this book reflect the limitations of or the constraints on the ontological conceptualization of transformation towards sustainability due to complexity and uncertainty. This complexity is exacerbated by the inevitable contextualization of sustainable, low-carbon transformation, where there is the need to find ways to assess and understand the political, economic, cultural, technological and environmental context from many analytical and governance levels, degrees and scales of causalities as well as making use of insights from these contexts to draw up lessons for others. The context, as reflected by socio-technical and socio-linguistic narratives, not only defines power relations between agents (e.g., between change agents and status quo agents), but also constitutes the audience as codified by social contracts.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

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Chapter 8. Ideal Types—Theoretical Models as Agent of Transformation Towards Sustainability
Abstract
This chapter introduces the ideal types of a transformative policy pathway as the agencies of transformation: democratic, authoritarian, institutional, activistic, technocratic or bureaucratic, and post-democratic. Functioning as ‘corridors’ where transformation is facilitated, each of these ideal types of policy models may have distinct preferences regarding procedures of collective decision-making. These procedures are, for example, highly dependent upon existing path dependencies defined by how each ideal type tends to draw legitimacy in front of its audience.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

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Chapter 9. Mexico and China—Sustainable, Low-Carbon Transformation Processes in Democratic and Authoritarian Regimes
Abstract
Mexico and China are two dynamic countries that can ‘challenge’ existing normative views on regimes, governance, and institutions. On the one hand, Mexico is a vibrant democratic country that has managed to become a member of the OECD and its economy has benefitted from open borders, direct foreign investment inflows and integration into global value chains (OECD 2017b), but yet it still reflects governance deficiencies, particularly in the formal and material representation of relevant stakeholders, and especially in marginalized communities. On the other hand, although China is governed by an authoritarian regime, particularly when environmental issues are involved, societal groups’ interests seem to find effective ways to influence policy-making.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

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Chapter 10. The Philippines as a Case Study—Populism and Institutional Activism in Transformation Processes Towards Sustainability
Abstract
The current resurgence and reinforcement of populists in many countries has profited not only from various real or imagined crises (e.g., 2015-present refugee crisis in Europe or the caravan of migrants in Latin America heading to the United States), but also from how established political parties and polities have addressed these crises, which have disenfranchised, in a de facto manner, a significant portion of the population. Former Greek finance minister and Professor of Economics at the University of Athens, Yanis Varoufakis, notes that President Trump’s election, Brexit, and the resurgence of right-wing political parties in Germany, Austria & other countries are not new in history, but merely “a post-modern variant of the 1930s, complete with deflation, xenophobia, and divide-and-rule politics” (Varoufakis 2016). Populist movements have found and instrumentalized compelling issues, such as emission reduction, to gain political importance.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

Open Access

Chapter 11. The United States of America—Disruptive Governments, Social Movements and Technocrats in Transformation Processes Towards Sustainability
Abstract
The election of the populist Donald Trump to the United States is argued to be a consequence of the fluke of the electoral college, the lackluster Democratic turnout, and the anti-establishment and populist sentiments in the population. Through effective gerrymandering after the 2000 general elections, the Republican party and its presidential candidate Trump won the elections, even though he lost the popular vote by close to 3 million ballots. Another example of the flaw of the electoral system is shown by the 2018 midterm elections.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

Open Access

Chapter 12. Jamaica—The Transformation Towards Sustainability of an Island Economy Under Austerity Measures
Abstract
This chapter diverges from the previous case studies. In addition to a literature review and qualitative interviews of local stakeholders, this chapter also contextualizes sustainable, low-carbon transformation by using an innovative experiment, where participants played the role of a decision-making government official committing to decisions under specific conditions (e.g., imposed austerity measures). When applied to Jamaica, the specific parameters of a scenario are assumed and through solution-oriented role playing, the process of decision-making is analyzed.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

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Chapter 13. Lessons for Theory: A Conceptual Framework of Transformative Pathways
Abstract
A major objective of this book is to provide theoretical and practical knowledge on how sustainable, low-carbon transformation can be facilitated. As a creative and a rational process, transformation can be managed. However, the management of transformation necessitates an integrative and process-oriented outlook to grasp the various issues, dynamics, causalities, associative relations, lock-ins, critical junctures, tipping points, interactions, behavior, and analytical levels that drive any transformation process.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

Open Access

Chapter 14. Lessons for Practice: Reflexivity and Stakeholder Engagement for Transformations Towards Sustainability
Abstract
This chapter intends to present a practical approach to strategically facilitating sustainable, low-carbon transformation. The recommendations that can be made are presented while using a Weberian understanding (Verstehen) of various variables and dynamics that has been crystalized through this book’s theoretical foundation (chapters 2 to 6), methodological tools (chapters 7 and 8), case studies (chapters 9 to 12), simulation game (part of chapter 12), and the theoretical claims through the conceptual framework (chapter 13). A major contribution of this book is a set of recommendations that aim to support an inquiry-based, reflective, collaborative, and integrative facilitation of the transformation process.
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez

Open Access

Chapter 15. Conclusion—Creating Momentum for Transformation Through Purpose
Abstract
Many experts and pundits from the popular media often depict sustainable, low-carbon transformation as a revolution. For example, Tom Delay (2009) of The Guardian sees “a new revolution that fast tracks the deployment of a new set of technologies.” He continues that the new low carbon economy is “poised to be the mother of all markets and will be as transformative in its impact as the first industrial revolution.”
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
Taming the Big Green Elephant
verfasst von
Ariel Macaspac Hernández
Copyright-Jahr
2021
Electronic ISBN
978-3-658-31821-5
Print ISBN
978-3-658-31820-8
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-31821-5