Bressers, Rosenbaum, and their contributors analyze what, until recently, has been among the least examined issues implicit in the growing global discourse about sustainable development: the creation of institutions and processes for effective governance of sustainability policies. The creation and endurance of governance institutions capable of implementing sustainability policies is, in fact, fundamental for any viable conception of sustainable development. The analyses focus not only on how societies can organize, but on how they do organize to overcome such daunting obstacles in the Netherlands, the Northwest United States, Costa Rica, Madagascar, Senegal, and the European Union. The writers focus particularly upon the special problem embedded in the sustainability paradigm, that of organizing governance across scales—that is to say, across and between geographic, political, ecological, or other social levels in a sustainable regime. In recent years the scale problem has emerged as a major and enlarging concern, as international efforts proliferate to implement various sorts of sustainability policies. The analyses focus not only on how societies can organize, but on how they do organize to overcome such daunting obstacles. The analyses place considerable emphasis upon the history and lessons to be learned from ongoing efforts to achieve such governance in several diverse international settings including the Netherlands, the Northwest United States, Costa Rica, Madagascar, Senegal, and the European Union.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures List of Tables Preface List of Contributors Introduction Social Scales, Sustainability, and Governance: An Introduction by Hans Th. A. Bressers and Walter A. Rosenbaum The Significance of Social Scales: Visions and Concepts Globalization and Sustainable Development by Jose Toscano Governance and Sustainable Livelihoods by Parakh Hoon and Goran Hyden What Does "Governance" Mean?: From Conception to Elaboration by Stefan M. M. Kuks and Hans. Th. A. Bressers The Imperative for Multi-Level Governance in Sustainable Development Sustainable Development, Political Institutions, and Scales: The Management of Pacific Salmon by Samuel Barkin and Cassandra Moseley Managing Water Resources in Florida and the Netherlands: The Impact of National Orientations on Multi-Scale Governance by Stefan M. M. Kuks and Hans Th. A. Bressers Sustainable Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Resource Management through Institutional Syncretism in Madagascar and Senegal by Dennis Galvan and Richard Marcus Building from the Center Out: Decentralizing Environmental Policymaking in Costa Rica by John Bolus and Renee Johnson Local Autonomy and Environmental Justice: Implementing Distributional Justice Across National Scales by Frans Coenen and Angela Halfacre The Impact of Multi-Level Governance on Policymaking for Sustainability Managing Policy and Scientific Uncertainty at Different Scales of Governance: The U.K., E.U., and Genetically Engineered Organisms by Leann Brown Sustainable Electricity Supply in the European Union: Reconciling Different Scales of Governance by Maarten Arentsen and Valentine Dinica Multi-Level Governance Networks and the Selection of Policy Instruments by Kenneth Hanf and Laurence J. O'Toole The Impact of Policy Style on Policy Choice Across Scales: The E.U. Experience by Theo de Bruijn Implementing Environmental Regulations across Governance Scales in the E.U. by K.R.D. Lulofs