Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Moving towards a sustainable society requires developing new forms of governance. Ostrom’s ideas about polycentric governance have acquired increasing relevance, both in the specialized literature and in the design and execution of public policies. On top of overcoming the classic dichotomy between market-based and government-led approaches in favor of a pluralistic understanding of the collective action of communities, civil society organizations, and other political actors, this proposal resonates with a panarchic understanding of the dynamics and interactions between socio-ecological systems at different scales. This notwithstanding, there lack, in this approaches, a deep and complex sociological understanding of contemporary society, a deficit which has resulted in a simplification of the intervention strategies they endorse. In this study, wel argue, first of all, that in order to solve this deficit it is possible to link the ideas of polycentric/panarchic governance to a universalist theory of society. Next, we will explore the potential of Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory for this purpose since, like the mentioned perspectives, Luhmann’s work recognizes the distinct nature of interactions, groups, organizations, and society. Thirdly, we look at the main attributes that a sociological-based polycentric governance would present, the social problems to which it should respond and its basic principles. To do so, we pay special attention to the idea of systemic coordination. The analysis ends by discussing governance techniques coherent with this approach and the implications of this formulation for public policy design and implementation, as well as for modern democracy.