Governance of the Bioeconomy: A Global Comparative Study of National Bioeconomy Strategies

Thomas Dietz, Jan Börner, Jan Janosch Förster and Joachim von Braun
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Thomas Dietz: Institute of Political Science, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 48151 Münster, Germany
Jan Börner: Center for Development Research (ZEF), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, 53113 Bonn, Germany
Jan Janosch Förster: Center for Development Research (ZEF), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: More than forty states worldwide currently pursue explicit political strategies to expand and promote their bioeconomies. This paper assesses these strategies in the context of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our theoretical framework differentiates between four pathways of bioeconomic developments. The extent to which bioeconomic developments along these pathways lead to increased sustainability depends on the creation of effective governance mechanisms. We distinguish between enabling governance and constraining governance as the two fundamental political challenges in setting up an effective governance framework for a sustainable bioeconomy. Further, we lay out a taxonomy of political support measures (enabling governance) and regulatory tools (constraining governance) that states can use to confront these two political challenges. Guided by this theoretical framework, we conduct a qualitative content analysis of 41 national bioeconomy strategies to provide systematic answers to the question of how well designed the individual national bioeconomy strategies are to ensure the rise of a sustainable bioeconomy.

Keywords: bioeconomy; governance; development policy; innovation; technology; bio-based (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (68)

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Working Paper: Governance of the bioeconomy: A global comparative study of national bioeconomy strategies (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:3190-:d:168162

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