Routledge Studies on the Governance of Sustainability in Europe

At the beginning of the twenty-first century the EU is faced with major economic, environmental and societal challenges. Climate change is at the forefront of these challenges having a wide-ranging impact on the economy and society.

The timeliness of the discussion of sustainability is therefore being confirmed almost daily. This is especially true within the policy making circles of the EU with high level discussions on a variety of issues from energy security to climate change, fisheries to the Lisbon Strategy all referring to sustainable development. Yet although sustainable development is a fundamental objective of the Union, research shows the EU has often struggled to engage with all aspects of the concept. It 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.

This book series on European sustainable development will examine these tensions and ambiguities from an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary background. It will accept proposals from practitioners and academics from a range of disciplines including history, politics, management and environmental and energy studies for books that feature aspects of sustainable development as their key topic in name or spirit. Of particular interest will be:

• the impact of sustainable development policies on European integration
• books where issues of sustainability are analysed in energy, environmental, transport, development and agricultural policies
• books that utilise an interdisciplinary approach

The book series 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.

Series editors:

Thomas Hoerber, ESSCA School of Management, Angers, France

Jenny Fairbrass, Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia