Sustainable development twenty years on: new theoretical interpretations, methodological innovations, and fields of further exploration

If we take the seminal Brundtland report, presented by the UN authorities in 1987, as the point of departure, the analysis of sustainable development can look back on a history of about two decades. Ever since, this theme, which links intragenerational and intergenerational equity, and is generally understood as seeking to reconcile issues of social equity, economic efficiency and environmental protection, has been the subject of many theoretical, empirical and policy-oriented studies, emanating from a variety of different organisations (international institutions, national administrations, NGOs, businesses…).

Within sustainability analysis, there are mainly two theoretical perspectives, known as “weak” and “strong” sustainability. Whereas the former, as part of the neoclassical paradigm, generally recognises the existence of trade-offs between the different forms of capital (natural capital, physical capital, human capital…), supporters of strong sustainability, who are critical of this trade-off assumption, emphasise the specific nature of the ecological constraints (and consequently, of the ecological objectives). As for contributions by organizations (including the actors mentioned above) to the analysis of sustainable development in the broad sense, these generally take the form of a “transformation” for specific areas of operation (for example a particular business, a particular local authority, etc.) of the three pillars of sustainability mentioned above, to which is sometimes added the element of governance as a particular dimension of social sustainability.

The literature on sustainable development is abundant in both the theoretical and applied fields; there is a wide spectrum of interpretation between the opposing poles of weak and strong sustainability, and this is also reflected in the more popular literature on sustainability.

This conference seeks to bypass the polarisation between the two analytical tracks, by emphasising more original forms of research on sustainable development. Therefore, the following approaches and themes will be addressed:

•  Relatively, or completely new theoretical approaches to sustainable development; more precisely, theories that have been developed in other fields and are now being tested within sustainable development analysis: Institutionalist, conventionalist and evolutionary approaches; Régulation theory, proximity analysis as well as resolutely critical perspectives focusing on sustainable development (for example, the issue of population decline, or the “de-growth movement” as in the French ‘décroissance’).
• Innovative methodologies referring to sustainable development: ecological footprint, “bilan carbone”® (carbon balance sheet), “bilan sociétal” (social balance sheet), multi-actor systems…
• Parallels drawn with issues closely linked to sustainable development, but for which the connections have scarcely been made explicit so far: the challenges of social innovation, crisis dynamics and the future of capitalism (globalisation, post-fordism...), questions linked to the knowledge-economy and society, and to social and human sustainability, to public goods and how they connect to property relations, trend and risk forecasting, and risk analysis or assessment, etc.

The conference will favour theoretical contributions, but also welcomes original applied studies showing explicit links with the analysis of sustainable development. All geographical areas are eligible: North and south, urban and rural, coastal and maritime, or functionally more specific areas such as former industrialised zones; all will receive equal attention a priori.

 In line with the objectives of the conference, emphasis will be laid on three particular analytical tracks:

      1)      Sustainable development: new theoretical and critical interpretations

      2)      Sustainable development: potential and limits of new methods of analysis and evaluation

      3)      Problematics related to sustainable development in fields of further exploration:

• Globalisation
•  Development
• The future of capitalism
• Actors’ strategies, collective mobilisation, governance
• Social innovation
• Modes of knowledge generation and specialised expertise
• Processes of institutionalisation

Provisional  Schedule:

•  1)      Call for papers: June 2007
•  2)      Abstracts (maximum 2 pages): October 15, 2007
•  3)      Reply to authors: End December 2007
• 4)      Full paper submission by authors: Early of September 2008
• 5)      Conference on 20, 21 and 22 November 2008.

Abstracts should be sent to clerse-direction@univ-lille1.fr

Conseil scientifique / Scientific committee

Comité d'organisation / Steering committee :

O. Ailenei, M. Antohi, L. Bazin B. Boidin, F. Chavy, M.-P. Coquard, L. Cordonnier, V. Deldrève, A. Djeflat, A. Hamdouch, F. Héran, N. Holec, S. Jasniak, P.-J. Lorens, M. Maillefert, D. Mosbah, C. Parra, E. Penalva, S. Rousseau, M. Sueur, B. Zuindeau.

 Web : www.univ-lille1.fr/clerse

Pour citer cette annonce

« La problématique du développement durable vingt ans après », Appel à contribution, Calenda, publié le lundi 25 juin 2007, http://calenda.revues.org/nouvelle8734.html