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On the Deep Unsustainability of Actually Existing Liberal Democracy
Citation
Gale, F, On the Deep Unsustainability of Actually Existing Liberal Democracy, Proceedings of the 2014 Australian Political Studies Association Annual Conference, 28 September-1 October, Sydney, pp. 1-19. (2014) [Refereed Conference Paper]
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Official URL: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2440366
Abstract
A number of worrying recent reports indicate that the Earth is undergoing interlinked social, economic and ecological crises linked to intra- and inter-state inequality, financial instability and climate change. Past ‘solutions’ based on eco-development and sustainable development are being superseded by a focus on ‘sustainability’, a term that does not presume ‘development’ or ‘growth’ and appears to require deep integration across space, time, disciplines and interests. The emergence of sustainability poses tough questions for the theory and practice of liberal democracy, based as the latter on the principle of fragmentation including individualism, territorialism, nationalism and partisanship. This paper critically evaluates the adequacy of ‘actual existing liberal democracy’ from a sustainability perspective. Based on the case of Australia, it highlights the deep unsustainability of the country’s constitutional founding and political economy and how such unsustainability is periodically renewed via the structure and operation of parliamentary and executive government.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Conference Paper |
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Research Division: | Human Society |
Research Group: | Political science |
Research Field: | Australian government and politics |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Coastal and estuarine systems and management |
Objective Field: | Assessment and management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems |
UTAS Author: | Gale, F (Professor Fred Gale) |
ID Code: | 96693 |
Year Published: | 2014 |
Deposited By: | School of Social Sciences |
Deposited On: | 2014-11-17 |
Last Modified: | 2018-03-13 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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