Environmental Governance Through Partnerships A Discourse Theoretical Study

Sustainability partnerships were the Type-II outcomes of the 2002 Johannesburg Summit, which promised increased effectiveness in and wider participation to global environmental governance. They have quickly become the main form of collaboration between UN and non-state actors. This groundbreaking book uses the results of quantitative and qualitative research to analyze sustainability partnerships and their role in environmental governance. It focuses on the origins of and the rationale behind the concept of 'public-private partnership'. With a combination of post-structuralist discourse theory and interpretative methods such as historical discourse analysis and ecocriticism not previously used in studies on partnership, Aysem Mert examines three discourses that have been rooted into the logic of partnerships: privatization of governance, sustainable development and democratic participation. Ultimately, Mert argues that these discourses help understand both the potential and structural limitations of sustainability partnerships. This revolutionary book will be useful to researchers of environmental governance, transnational and global studies, looking for an empirical and analytical interpretation of the topic. Political theorists and philosophers, as well as discourse analysts, will also find the theoretical and methodological perspectives to be of interest.