Sustainable Development and Governance in Europe

Introduction

Establishing the research questions and methodological framework

Pamela M. Barnes and Thomas C. Hoerber

Research themes and questions

Dryzek, in his analysis of the development of the environmental discourse of the 1950s and 1960s, highlighted the hegemonic position in the political discourse of the concept of ‘industrialism’. He characterized industrialism ‘in terms of its overarching commitment to growth in the quantity of goods and services and to the material well-being that growth brings’ (Dryzek 2005: 13, 2nd edition). As the single dominant discourse of the period, industrialism conditioned not only the agreement of its proponents with the concept’s central tenets, but also the development of any opposing viewpoint. The opposing ...