Good Governance and Sustainable Development

Addressing the big questions to advance the debate on good governance for sustainable development, this book asks: what is governance for sustainable development? What makes governance 'good'? And what are the factors that inhibit good governance?

With contributions from experts in Development Studies, Economics, Geography, Management, Environmental Science, Politics, and Public Policy, this interdisciplinary volume critically engages with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) whilst reflecting on the inherently political nature of good governance. Chapters draw on cases from a range of geographical contexts (local, national, supranational, and global) and diverse policy areas, including global environmental and labour governance, gender equality, decolonial governance in the Coral Triangle, supranational governance in the EU, and resource governance in the car industry. By doing so, this book provides an overview of the current challenges and possibilities for achieving good governance and sustainable development, and calls for a return to the critical spirit of the original concept of good governance, to reclaim it as the radical idea it was intended to be.

This book will act as an insightful and valuable guide for academics, scholars, and students of Development Studies, Economics, Politics, Environmental Science, Geography, and Management, as well as policymakers and practitioners working in sustainable development.

Maria Gavris is Associate Professor in the Department of Global Sustainable Development, School for Cross-faculty Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. She is a political economist with a particular interest in governance for sustainable development, capitalism's multiple interconnected crises, and alternatives to the mainstream development paradigm. At Warwick, she designed and convenes an interdisciplinary module on Good Governance and Sustainable Development.

Jessica Savage is Associate Professor in the Department of Global Sustainable Development, School for Cross-faculty Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. She is an interdisciplinary environmental scientist with a background in tropical coral reef ecology and natural resource management. Her work is focused on the efficacy of marine protected areas and their impacts on the environment, economy, local indigenous communities, and tourism. Her research interests surround human-ecosystem interactions, and in particular the monitoring of marine resources.