Overcoming Inequalities: Towards a New Eco-social Contract

Overcoming Inequalities: Towards a New Eco-social Contract PDF

Author: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development

Publisher: United Nations

Published: 2022-08-31

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13: 9210021606

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This Strategy sets out the priorities and themes of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development over the period 2021–2025. It integrates research, communications, policy engagement, results and impact—and is calibrated against the fast-moving social, economic and political context as it impacts on development. It is the product of work with a wide range of stakeholders, and takes on board policy concerns and academic debates. We aim to fill identified knowledge gaps and also to anticipate fast-evolving social issues that are not yet in the mainstream. We are proud to have been doing this important work since 1963, and look forward to celebrating the 60th Anniversary of UNRISD in 2023, the mid-point of this Strategy period.

Towards a Natural Social Contract

Towards a Natural Social Contract PDF

Author: Patrick Huntjens

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-03-30

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 3030671305

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This open access book is a 2022 Nautilus Gold Medal winner in the category "World Cultures' Transformational Growth & Development". It states that the societal fault lines of our times are deeply intertwined and that they confront us with challenges affecting the security, fairness and sustainability of our societies. The author, Prof. Dr. Patrick Huntjens, argues that overcoming these existential challenges will require a fundamental shift from our current anthropocentric and economic growth-oriented approach to a more ecocentric and regenerative approach. He advocates for a Natural Social Contract that emphasizes long-term sustainability and the general welfare of both humankind and planet Earth. Achieving this crucial balance calls for an end to unlimited economic growth, overconsumption and over-individualisation for the benefit of ourselves, our planet, and future generations. To this end, sustainability, health, and justice in all social-ecological systems will require systemic innovation and prioritizing a collective effort. The Transformative Social-Ecological Innovation (TSEI) framework presented in this book serves that cause. It helps to diagnose and advance innovation and spur change across sectors, disciplines, and at different levels of governance. Altogether, TSEI identifies intervention points and formulates jointly developed and shared solutions to inform policymakers, administrators, concerned citizens, and professionals dedicated towards a more sustainable, healthy and just society. A wide readership of students, researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in social innovation, transition studies, development studies, social policy, social justice, climate change, environmental studies, political science and economics will find this cutting-edge book particularly useful. “As a sustainability transition researcher, I am truly excited about this book. Two unique aspects of the book are that it considers bigger transformation issues (such as societies’ relationship with nature, purpose and justice) than those studied in transition studies and offers analytical frameworks and methods for taking up the challenge of achieving change on the ground.” - Prof. Dr. René Kemp, United Nations University and Maastricht Sustainability Institute

Between Fault Lines and Front Lines

Between Fault Lines and Front Lines PDF

Author: Katja Hujo

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-06-02

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1350229040

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Inequality is one of today's greatest challenges, obstructing poverty reduction and sustainable development. As the power of elites grows and societal gaps widen, institutions representing the public good and universal values are increasingly disempowered or co-opted, and visions of social justice and equity side-lined. This book explores the roles of elites and institutions of power in the deepening of social and economic cleavages across the globe, by asking how inequalities have reshaped structures from the local to the transnational level, and what consequences they have wrought. In addition, the contributors present examples of peaceful processes of policy change that have made societies greener and more socially just, levelled out social stratification, and devolved power and resources from elites to non-elites, or towards marginalized or discriminated groups. Based on cutting-edge empirical research, the chapters in this volume bring together conceptual thinking and a number of case studies from the Global North and South, combining different levels of analysis and a range of qualitative research methods to present solutions for closing the inequality gap.

Toward a New Social Contract

Toward a New Social Contract PDF

Author: Maurizio Bussolo

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2018-10-24

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 146481354X

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The growing economic fissures in the societies of Europe and Central Asia between generations, between insiders and outsiders in the labor market, between rural and urban communities, and between the super-rich and everyone else, are threatening the sustainability of the social contract. The institutions that helped achieving a remarkable degree of equity and prosperity over the course of several decades now face considerable difficulties in coping with the challenges presented by these emerging forms of inequality. Public surveys reveal rising concerns over inequality of opportunity, while electoral results show a marked shift to populist parties that offer radical solutions to voters dissatisfied with the status quo. There is no single solution to relieve these tensions, and attempts to address them will vary considerably across the region. However, this publication proposes three broad policy principles: (1) promote labor market flexibility while maintaining protection for all types of labor contracts; (2) seek universality in the provision of social assistance, social insurance, and basic quality services; and (3) expand the tax base by complementing progressive labor-income taxation with taxation of capital. These principles could guide the rethinking of the social contract and fulfil European citizens’ aspirations for growth and equity.

Reducing Inequalities

Reducing Inequalities PDF

Author: Rémi Genevey

Publisher: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Published: 2013-01-01

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 8179935302

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The reduction of inequalities within and between countries stands as a policy goal, and deserves to take centre stage in the design of the Sustainable Development Goals agreed during the Rio+20 Summit in 2012.The 2013 edition of A Planet for Life represents a unique international initiative grounded on conceptual and strategic thinking, and – most importantly – empirical experiments, conducted on five continents and touching on multiple realities. This unprecedented collection of works proposes a solid empirical approach, rather than an ideological one, to inform future debate.The case studies collected in this volume demonstrate the complexity of the new systems required to accommodate each country's specific economic, political and cultural realities. These systems combine technical, financial, legal, fiscal and organizational elements with a great deal of applied expertise, and are articulated within a clear, well-understood, growth- and job-generating development strategy.Inequality reduction does not occur by decree; neither does it automatically arise through economic growth, nor through policies that equalize incomes downward via ill conceived fiscal policies. Inequality reduction involves a collaborative effort that must motivate all concerned parties, one that constitutes a genuine political and social innovation, and one that often runs counter to prevailing political and economic forces.

Digging Out

Digging Out PDF

Author: Charles And Steve Clark

Publisher:

Published: 2011-07-01

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9781462019878

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In hard times, dissension mounts. The old social contract flounders and cannot be revived. Forces of reaction assert themselves. Danger intensifies. In dark times, opportunity appears. Such is our time. It is time to debate and define the next social contract, to articulate its political aims and action plan. It is time to change the world. In Digging Out: Global Crisis and the Search for a New Social Contract, two brothers from the social and environmental justice movements engage this debate with a revolutionary proposal rooted in the power dynamics of the world's rising service-based economy. They provide a theoretical framework to reinterpret and address festering world problems through local and global initiatives. They urge cultural reinvigoration to deploy our social skills and innovation in service of others. Their proposal confirms the leading role of civil society, and it calls for a worldwide commercial transaction fee to curb financial speculation while adequately and permanently funding a sustainable future. Digging Out proposes a new social contract to advance economic security, social justice, and ecological restoration worldwide. It is a clarion call, urging us to unite and demand the changes necessary for a better tomorrow.

Encyclopedia of the Social and Solidarity Economy

Encyclopedia of the Social and Solidarity Economy PDF

Author: Ilcheong Yi

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2023-01-20

Total Pages: 509

ISBN-13: 1803920920

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This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. This work has been funded by the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd in partnership with United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on SSE (UNTFSSE) The Encyclopedia of the Social and Solidarity Economy is a comprehensive reference text that explores how the social and solidarity economy (SSE) plays a significant role in creating and developing economic activities in alternative ways. In contrast to processes involving commodification, commercialisation, bureaucratisation and corporatisation, the SSE reasserts the place of ethics, social well-being and democratic decision-making in economic activities and governance. Identifying and analysing a myriad of issues and topics associated with the SSE, the Encyclopedia broadens the knowledge base of diverse actors of the SSE, including practitioners, activists and policymakers.

World Social Report 2020

World Social Report 2020 PDF

Author: Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Publisher: United Nations

Published: 2020-02-14

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9210043677

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This report examines the links between inequality and other major global trends (or megatrends), with a focus on technological change, climate change, urbanization and international migration. The analysis pays particular attention to poverty and labour market trends, as they mediate the distributional impacts of the major trends selected. It also provides policy recommendations to manage these megatrends in an equitable manner and considers the policy implications, so as to reduce inequalities and support their implementation.

Reimagining our futures together

Reimagining our futures together PDF

Author: International Commission on the Futures of Education

Publisher: UNESCO Publishing

Published: 2021-11-06

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 9231004786

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The interwoven futures of humanity and our planet are under threat. Urgent action, taken together, is needed to change course and reimagine our futures.

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