Objective 1: students are able to define and explain the key principles (i.e. multi-actor, multi-level, multi-domain) of governance for sustainable development;
Objective 2: students are able to analyze sustainable development challenges from a governance perspective;
Objective 3: students are able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various levels (i.e. transnational, regional and local) and forms of governance (i.e. partnerships, network governance, value chain governance, participatory governance, multi-level governance);
Objective 4: students are able to reflect on the normative and ethical aspects involved in governance for sustainable development.

The quest for a sustainable society challenges our political-institutional system, where we observe a shift from a ‘government-model’ to ‘governance-approaches’. However, like sustainable development, governance is a contested concept. It’s about new relations between actors from different societal domains, such as the state, the market, and the civil society. It’s about collective action by multiple actors, involving multiple sectors at multiple scale levels. It’s about new multi-actor constellations, and their structures, institutions, processes, resources and instruments. It’s about different modes of governance, depending on prevailing world views and perspectives. In this course, governance practices at transnational, regional and local level are examined, with an emphasis on cross-cutting policy issues such as collective action, steering and coordination, implementation, accountability and enforcement, and conflict resolution. New governance approaches which play a pivotal role in the social process towards a more sustainable world will be discussed, such as networks and partnerships. Students will learn that there are large differences between the different multi-level and multi- actor governance arenas in terms of stakeholder involvement and relevant trade-offs. Furthermore, students will learn that a good understanding of the relations and interdependencies between public administration, market parties, non-governmental organisations and civilians, but also the scientific community, is essential for governance in pursuit of sustainable development. An important element of this course is the link between theoretical concepts and their practical relevance, illustrated by case-studies.

Exchange students can only register for this course provided they previously took the course SSP2011 Sustainable Development or SSP2031 Sustainability Science.