Call for Contribution
Governance of Sustainability in Europe Book Series, Routledge, London
Our GOVTRAN colleagues Prof Thomas Hoerber (ESSCA) and Dr Jenny Fairbrass (UEA) are editing a book series “Governance of Sustainability in Europe” at Routledge, please contact them if you are interested in submitting a book proposal.
In common with the rest of the world, at the beginning of the twenty-first century the European Union (EU) faces a range of major economic, environmental and social challenges: challenges that reflect the three main pillars of sustainability. More specifically, problems relating to biodiversity loss, climate change, poverty, health and well-being for all, sustainable agriculture, security of food supply, water quality, access to affordable and reliable energy are among the key challenges that are having a wide-ranging impact on European (and the global) economy and society.
It is clear that such challenges are at the forefront of the minds of public policy makers at the EU, national and sub-national levels of governance in Europe. Within EU policy making circles, high level deliberations are taking place on a variety of issues from energy security to climate change, fisheries to the Lisbon Strategy all underpinned by the notion of sustainable development or sustainability. Yet, even though sustainable development is a fundamental objective of the Union, research shows the EU has often struggled to engage with all aspects of the concept. This allows a wide range of actors to subscribe to the policy, but also leads to numerous interpretations, which in turn – along with a lack of recognition of the interdependency of energy and environmental policies – makes it difficult for a coherent and comprehensive set of policies to emerge. Finally, the cross-cutting multi-disciplinary nature of the concept also only feeds further ambiguity about the relationship between the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability.
A new book series, entitled ‘Governance of Sustainability in Europe’ will provide a forum for an informed and critical debate about the sustainability issues in the context of European integration. The timeliness, necessity and urgency of such a discussion is confirmed almost daily.
The series editors welcome book proposals from practitioners and academics from a range of disciplines including history, politics, economics, management studies, and environmental and energy studies for books that focus on particular aspects of sustainable development as their key topic in name or spirit. Of particular interest are proposed volumes that set out to explore:
- the impact of sustainable development policies on European integration and vice-versa (i.e. the impact of the EU on sustainability);
- issues of sustainability, analysed in terms of energy, the environment, transport, economic development and/or agricultural policies;
- challenges surrounding sustainability that utilise an interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary approach.
This new book series on European sustainable development will examine the tensions and ambiguities associated with the notion of sustainability using interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches. It will highlight the vital links needed between academic disciplines and policy fields, which in the end are essential for making any single one of them useful and viable.
Please address book proposals using the standard Routledge book proposal to Prof Thomas Hoerber (thomas.hoerber@essca.fr) and Dr Jenny Fairbrass (J.Fairbrass@uea.ac.uk).
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