Germany is a particularly interesting country for investigating the potential for transforming mature welfare states and coordinated market economies into political economies that successfully combines ecological and social objectives. The political and institutional conditions for developing a strong eco-social policy agenda should be favourable. Based on document analysis and expert interviews, this chapter maps the positions of the main institutional and political actors involved in defining the German approach to sustainability. The analysis centres on whether and through what channels in the politico-institutional architecture actors articulate links between social considerations and associated (social) policy, the production system (and economic growth) and environmental/ecological sustainability. In a cross-national comparative perspective, Germany has come far in the institutionalization of a cross-sectorally coordinated and holistic approach to sustainability. However, the German approach does not yet represent an effective vehicle for eco-social policymaking that adequately reconciles ecological, social and economic considerations.
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Front Matter
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Part I Rethinking welfare state sustainability
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Part II Quantitative assessments of the potential for an eco-social transition
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Part III Eco-social policymaking (politics and policy) at national level
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Part IV Europe as a driver for the eco-social agenda?
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Part V Conclusions
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Back Matter
