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Groundwork for social-ecological transformations: The social contract, global governance and the meaning of time. Constructive criticism of the WBGU report world in transition - a social contract for a great transformation

Author

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  • Manstetten, Reiner
  • Kuhlmann, Andreas
  • Faber, Malte
  • Frick, Marc
Abstract
A decade ago, the German Advisory Council to the Federal Government on Global Environmental Change (Wissenschaftlichen Beirats der Bundesregierung für Globale Umweltveränderungen - WBGU) published its main report. This attempt to take stock in 2011 made an impact and provided orientation on both a national and international scale. The WBGU report did not hold back: It aimed to show the urgent need for change in terms of sustainable development through the interplay of politics, economy, society and nature. The central message was: We need a "social contract for a Great Transformation", and it must be implemented by 2021. How is the report to be assessed today? We will summarise the positions of the WGBU report, cite its merits, and comment on them critically and constructively. Our approach examines the five main themes of the report: the global social contract; global governance using the example of the Paris Climate Agreement; acceptance by those involved and affected; the urgency of economic, political and social action; and the concept of the Great Transformation. In our critique, we suggest ways to constructively elaborate on the ideas laid out in the WBGU report, ideas that were not thought through to the end. Our focus lies particularly on how to deal with time and the concept of the Great Transformation. In doing so, we will also address the significance of technical advances, innovation and our own ignorance. The title of the report uses the term "Great Transformation" which acts as a leitmotif throughout. Put forth by Karl Polanyi (1941/44), this term, as used in the WBGU's parlance, is intended to address the far-reaching changes that a regulatory state would have to undertake, along with the participation of the global citizenry, in order to overcome the ecological crisis of the coming decades. In our conclusion, we argue that the idea of a uniformly planned and comprehensively attainable transformation of the current situation is inadequate. Instead, we have observed that different actors in different places have worked at different speeds not on a Great Transformation but on a multitude of social-ecological transformation processes. The effectiveness of such movements - which often emerge spontaneously - has grown to the present day. This gives us hope.

Suggested Citation

  • Manstetten, Reiner & Kuhlmann, Andreas & Faber, Malte & Frick, Marc, 2021. "Groundwork for social-ecological transformations: The social contract, global governance and the meaning of time. Constructive criticism of the WBGU report world in transition - a social contract for ," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-043, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21043
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Metcalf, Gilbert E., 1999. "A Distributional Analysis of Green Tax Reforms," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 52(4), pages 655-682, December.
    2. Harvey Mark & Metcalfe Stan, 2004. "The Ordering of Change: Polanyi, Schumpeter and the Nature of The Market Mechanism," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 14(2), pages 1-31, December.
    3. Metcalf, Gilbert E., 1999. "A Distributional Analysis of Green Tax Reforms," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 52(n. 4), pages 655-82, December.
    4. Jessica F. Green & Thomas Sterner & Gernot Wagner, 2014. "A balance of bottom-up and top-down in linking climate policies," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(12), pages 1064-1067, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Great Transformation; social-ecological transformation; global social contract; consensus; global governance; top-down/bottom-up approach; ignorance; temporal structures; technical progress; international climate policy; WBGU; Fridays for Future;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A00 - General Economics and Teaching - - General - - - General
    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • B12 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Classical (includes Adam Smith)
    • B59 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Other
    • F64 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Environment
    • H19 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Other
    • N50 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O39 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Other
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General
    • Q59 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Other

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