The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

Established in 2006, TATA Africa Services (Nigeria) Limited operates as the nodal point for Tata businesses in West Africa. TATA Africa Services (Nigeria) Limited has a strong presence in Nigeria with investments exceeding USD 10 million. The company was established in Lagos, Nigeria as a subsidiary of TATA Africa Holdings (SA) (Pty) Limited, South Africa and serves as the hub of Tata’s operations in Nigeria and the rest of West Africa.

What About Us

Sustainability transitions: an emerging field of research and its prospects

Sustainable development, although a widely used phrase and idea, has many different meanings and therefore provokes many different responses. In broad terms, the concept of sustainable development is an attempt to combine growing concerns about a range of environmental issues with socio-economic issues. To aid understanding of these different policies this paper presents a classification and mapping of different trends of thought on sustainable development, their political and policy frameworks and their attitudes towards change and means of change. Sustainable development has the potential to address fundamental challenges for humanity, now and into the future. However, to do this, it needs more clarity of meaning, concentrating on sustainable livelihoods and well-being rather than well-having, and long term environmental sustainability, which requires a strong basis in principles that link the social and environmental to human equity. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

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Sustainable development: mapping different approaches

An Organizational Theoretic Review of Green Supply Chain Management Literature

Ecological Modernisation Theory has been faced with various challenges from different theoretical perspectives throughout the years. This contribution reviews the various debates ecological modernisation ideas have been engaged in. The article starts with a historical perspective on some of the earlier debates that paralleled Ecological Modernisation from its birth in the early 1980s to its maturation. These initial debates with earlier neo‐Marxists and deindustrialisation/counterproductivity theorists were formative for Ecological Modernisation Theory, but are no longer all of similar relevance today. Subsequently we concentrate on more contemporary discussions, which only to some extent reflect similar topics. We will respectively enter into discussions with constructivists and postmodernists on the material foundation of social theory, review and refine the controversies with eco‐centrists on radical versus reformist environmental reforms and contribute to neo‐Marxist understanding of social inequaliti...

Ecological modernisation theory in debate: A review

To minimize or at least substantially reduce damage to the natural resource sustenance‐base we urgently need institutional reform within modern society. Environmental sociologists have different views as to which institutional traits can be held primarily responsible for the environmental crisis. Examples include its capitalistic or industrial character as well as the complex, highly administrated technological system of modern society. We discuss these matters in the context of the theory of “ecological modernization”; as developed by the German sociologist Joseph Huber, among others. To analyze the institutional reforms required for bringing human interaction with the sustenance‐base under rational ecological control, however, the theory needs to be substantially modified and complemented in several respects. However, restructuring the processes of production and consumption is only half the story. The change to ecologically sound patterns of production and consumption is limited by the dimensi...

Sociology, environment, and modernity: ecological modernization as a theory of social change.

Sociology, environment, and modernity: Ecological modernization as a theory of social change

The Refinement of Production: Ecological Modernization Theory and the Chemical Industry

During the past four decades the governance of environmental problems-the definition of issues and their political and practical resolution-has evolved to include a wider range of stakeholders in more extensive open discussions. In the introduction to this issue of Environmental Values on 'Environment, Policy and Participation', we outline some features of these recent developments in participatory environmental governance, indicate some key questions that arise, and give an overview of the collection of papers in this special issue.

Arthur P.J. Mol

Papers

Ecological modernisation theory in debate: A review

Sociology, environment, and modernity: ecological modernization as a theory of social change.

Sociology, environment, and modernity: Ecological modernization as a theory of social change

The Refinement of Production: Ecological Modernization Theory and the Chemical Industry

Participation and environmental governance: consensus, ambivalence and debate