Sustainable Development, degrowth and the law: context, connections and challenges

This contribution assesses in which situations the application of law is a precondition to address degrowth as one goal of a Sustainable Development (SD). It first defines law in a broad sense including binding rules based on... [ view full abstract ]

This contribution assesses in which situations the application of law is a precondition to address degrowth as one goal of a Sustainable Development (SD). It first defines law in a broad sense including binding rules based on formal (written) as well as informal (non-written) sources. In terms of sustainable development the further assessment is conceptionally based on 3-D Sustainability, a recently developed decision support method. The contribution results in the presentation of the contexts between degrowth and the different elements as well as criteria provided by that method and inherent legal principles, such as the precautionary principle. The presentation identifies sufficiency, eco-effectiveness, ecological equity and socio-effectiveness as SD-criteria (of 3D-Sustainability) most relevant to reaching the degrowth goal by means of law. It presents information focused, incentive focused and rule focused instruments as the main, but differentiated tools for multilevel governance towards degrowth within a SD and also indicates the varying availability of these instruments on different geopolitical levels. The presentation further discusses the practical implications of these relationships and gives an outlook on further innovative applications of its results as well as additional challenges for research.