ABSTRACT
Thirty years after the seminal UN conference on environment and development, where the global agenda for sustainable development was agreed upon by the international community, uncountable initiatives in public policy, business and civil society have been activated. Despite all efforts, pressure on life-supporting Earth systems remain on an ecologically, socially and economically unsustainable pathway. Global collective action for sustainable development has so far been insufficient regarding the scientifically well-diagnosed need for substantial transformation. Given that the world remains a world of nation states, notwithstanding processes of globalization and transnationalization, internationalization and subnationalization, the quest for sustainable statehood is of utmost importance. Based on the expectations of nation states expressed in the UN Transformation Agenda 2030, it is argued that underlying and cross-cutting structures, procedures and instruments of statehood, which precede decision-making processes and policy-making in specific fields of sustainable development, such as climate change or biodiversity, are of key relevance. In this regard critical requirements and (pre-)conditions for sustainable statehood are discussed and design options for sustainable statehood in the Anthropocene are proposed.
ABSTRACT
Unsustainable developments will continue to be a significant challenge from the global to local level. The United Nations Transformation Agenda 2030 reflects the breadth and depth of the task and serves as a central reference point. The participation and collaboration of state and non-state actors are considered necessary to make progress in this context. However, politics and policy-making play a central role for guiding and shaping sustainable development. In order to secure societal acceptance for the targeted sustainability transformation, this article claims that policy-making for sustainable development should aim to bring about well-being-oriented transformations. In this regard, besides cognitive insight into the need for change, the multisensory dimensions of human existence in general as well as in everyday social practices in particular should be taken into account more systematically. It is argued that the presented approach of artful scientific policy advice may enable sensory-informed and creative policy-making by providing aesthetic expertise.