Main Navigation

Main Content

Tag Archives: democracy

A Manifesto for Democracy and Sustainability

Early in March, Labour published an independent review called ‘Overcoming Short-termism within British Business’. The picture was not pretty: “Short-termism has become an entrenched feature of the UK business environment” that “militates against… the UK’s future economic prosperity”, it warned.…

Launching the Democracy and Sustainability Platform

As a new Democracy and Sustainability Platform launches, rooted in a short Manifesto for Democracy and Sustainability, Halina Ward argues that democracy and sustainability are inextricably linked and that the time for action is now.

The case for action

Climate …

The Manifesto for Democracy and Sustainability launches

The Manifesto for Democracy and Sustainability launches today. It’s at the heart of a new Democracy and Sustainability Platform which we unveil with the help of a fabulous group of founder signatories and partners from around the world.

If you …

Manifesto for Democracy and Sustainability

We cherish sustainability: meeting the needs of people now without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. But today, human activities have exceeded the earth’s natural limits. As a species we have created great inequalities and …

Press release: World’s first people’s manifesto for democracy and sustainability sets out a global agenda for action

PRESS RELEASE, 20 March 2013

www.democracyandsustainability.org

Sustainability agenda ignores democracy at its peril. World’s first people’s manifesto for democracy and sustainability sets out a global agenda for action.

World leaders have failed to make democracy fit for purpose to tackle …

Manifesto for Democracy and Sustainability

The Manifesto for Democracy and Sustainability was created through an international consultation process. Over a seven-month period from June 2012-January 2013 around 330 people from around the world provided their ideas on the vision, principles and actions that should inform …

Nuclear waste in the balance

The UK government’s plans for management of nuclear waste have come to a standstill with Cumbria Council’s decision earlier this year to vote against Government plans to undertake preliminary work on an underground storage dump close to the Lake District.…

IPU puts Democracy at the Heart of Sustainable Development

It is good to see the idea of democracy’s inextricable link to sustainability taking roots in international development.

Music to our ears, a recent news release from the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), headed ‘Putting Democracy at the Heart of Sustainable

Magic, Manifesto and Stories

There  is a magic that is created when ideas, imagination and vision come together. There is definitely something magical about the historic Schloss Leopoldskron-an estate by a calm lake with majestic view of the mountains. Man and nature coexisting in …

What makes a good manifesto?

Manifestos are aplenty, nowadays. From Occupy, through business brands, to small and large online and offline communities alike, what was once exclusively the purview of political parties and intellectuals, has been adopted as a popular form of communication …

The most popular technocrat in Europe

A year after Monti’s appointment as Prime Minister, we draw some lessons from Italy on the strengths and limits of unelected government. What does it mean for the status of Italian democracy? And what will its contribution be, if any,

The sustainability wheels are coming off our democracy: shall we fix it?

Nicolò Wojewoda is Consultation and Research Officer at FDSD. This post was originally published on the blog of Otesha UK.

Imagine this. You’re merrily queueing at the local coffee shop for a shot of espresso, while grinning from ear …

FDSD is recruiting for an intern: deadline midday, 27th July

FDSD is looking for an intern to work with us for a fixed term three month period, starting as soon as practicable.

The major focus for the internship will be activities associated with the consultation process for the manifesto for …

The ethical tragedy of climate change without democracy

In his review of Stephen Gardiner’s A Perfect Moral Storm: the Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change (LRB, 24 May), Malcolm Bull airs a much needed discussion as to how far democracy can respond at all adequately to the challenge …

The future of democracy in the face of climate change

Halina Ward

This paper is the final report in FDSD’s major two-year research project on The Future of Democracy in the Face of Climate Change.

The paper draws on Papers One to Four to find answers to the question: ‘how

Commentary on democracy, climate change and sustainability

Tim O’Riordan

Professor Tim O’Riordan’s commentary on democracy, climate change and and sustainability is a contribution to discussions under FDSD’s project on the future of democracy in the face of climate change.

In the wake of UK Chancellor George Osborne’s …

Resilient citizenship and natural disasters: the Christchurch earthquake

Dr Bronwyn Hayward, FDSD trustee and Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, talks about the impact of New Zealand’s devastating Christchurch earthquake on democracy, and its  implications for ‘resilient citizenship’.

Bronwyn explores what makes …

UK government commitment to sustainable development: taking stock in the Potemkin Village

red tape on greenThe UK Coalition government’s approach to sustainable development looks increasingly like a Potemkin village. Its smart websites and fine rhetoric hide the misery of the social fallout from cutbacks in our age of austerity, slow progress on environment, and …

CERN: a failure of democracy and sustainability?

LHCOn the back of my previous post (Atmosphere: exploring climate science…), which raised questions about the value of science in a social vacuum, I’ve been thinking more about the space occupied by science in society.

As a science graduate myself, …

Climate Change: an overview of science, scenarios, projected impacts and links to democracy

Halina Ward with additional inputs from Emma Woods & Anandini Yoganathan

This paper forms Paper Four in FDSD’s project on The Future of Democracy in the Face of Climate Change, which aims to develop scenarios that can help to answer …

The Futures of Sustainable Development and of Democracy

Halina Ward with Emma Woods

This paper forms Paper Three in FDSD’s project on The Future of Democracy in the Face of Climate Change, which aims to develop scenarios that can help to answer the question: ‘how might democracy and

Atmosphere: exploring climate science at the Science Museum’s new gallery

atmosphereWith Paper Four (Climate Change: an overview of science, scenarios, projected impacts and links to democracy) in our project on The Future of Democracy in the Face of Climate Change posted to the FDSD website, Halina (FDSD’s Director) and I …

Avoiding a 4+°C world: a challenge for democracy

aralchainsI came across this audio clip among the online media for the 2009 International Climate Conference ‘4 Degrees and Beyond’. Professor Bertrand Guillaume of Troyes University of Technology presents ‘Avoiding a 4+°C world: a challenge for democracy’.

Drawing on the …

Professor John Ruggie talks Business, Human Rights and Democracy

Video courtesy of Ian Brown

An interview with Professor John Ruggie, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights, during a three-day event entitled ‘Democracy and Sustainability in Emerging Economies: India as a Case Study’. The …

Professor John Ruggie talks Business, Human Rights and Democracy

Video courtesy of Ian Brown

With the so-called ‘Ruggie process’ drawing to a conclusion, we are pleased to post an interview with Professor John Ruggie, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights. The interview was filmed …

FDSD and WWF-UK call for stronger role for Parliament in sustainable development

Press release

WWF-UK,  FOUNDATION FOR DEMOCRACY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

PRESS RELEASE

EMBARGOED TO 00:01 GMT, 10th January 2011

Non-governmental organisations call for stronger role for Parliament in sustainable development

Today’s report from the Environmental Audit Committee (1): “Embedding Sustainable Development across Government” …

Taking the Longer View: UK Governance Options for a Finite Planet

Peter Roderick

“We take the long view in so many ways. We get educated. We have children. We build. We buy houses. We talk about “making a living”, a continuing, dynamic, creative process. We contribute to pension schemes. We imagine …

Vietnam’s PM on democracy as a factor of sustainable development

Vietnamese flagThe Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, has just made a strong statement on the link between democracy and sustainable development in an article titled “Rapid and sustainable development – The kernel in Vi

Thinking about future people

clockofthelongnowFDSD Vice-Chair Ian Christie and I headed to the home of former trustee Sir Geoffrey Chandler and his wife Lucy for lunch yesterday. And our conversation turned to intergenerational thinking, and to the challenges of integrating long-termism and regard for …

UK Civil society call for a ‘new politics of the future’

FOUNDATION FOR DEMOCRACY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

PRESS RELEASE

Civil society call for a ‘new politics of the future’

In an open letter dated 1st June 2010 to Prime Minister Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Clegg, a group including chief …