3. Sustainable Development and Governance: Complex Processes and Unpredictable Outcomes

Abstract

This article tries to demonstrate how the concept of sustainable development is fraught with tensions that are political and ethical in nature. In trying to implement any notion of sustainability the agenda for policy action would be quite different in different contexts. The complex set of problems to be addressed would differ considerably in countries with different levels of economic development. Similarly, on certain issues global governance is called for. In other contexts,local conditions and culture must be understood before any policy intervention can be thought of. This is the first level of complexity with which any governance mechanism for sustainability must come to terms with. Governance itself is also inherently complex. It is an unfolding of a complicated interaction between different participants such as policy-makers, the wide variety of agencies which come together in the process of implementation and the beneficiaries themselves. Policy, and its outcomes, should not be viewed as a linear process. It is argued that governance is the result of the interaction between the processes of implementation and the outcomes that are possible. Governance, in this sense, is both complex and unpredictable. Unintended consequences are more the rule than the exception. The complexity of governance is a result of the interplay of knowledge and culture in a variety of power relations. The dominant narrative of sustainability and its associated pathway may not be the only alternative available. It is important to hear out suppressed and appropriated narratives and what they imply for sustainability.