Global Governance and Sustainable Development:An analysis of some examples for global, EU and national policies and strategies

Abstract

This thesis has been motivated by a desire to understand how sustainable development on the national level fits into global relationships. Ideas of sustainable development may affect all countries; play an important role in terminating national priorities, strategies, socioeconomic development and prospects for further reforms. The chapters introduce theoretical aspects of concepts sustainable development and global governance and an overview and analysis of sustainable development policies on the global, EU and national levels. The thesis investigates national sustainable development strategies in three Scandinavian countries: Sweden, Denmark and Norway; and their interactions with the global and EU policies. In order to answer the research questions and to prove the hypothesis several methods were used: secondary analysis of data gained from the policies and strategies, literature review, analysis of videos produced for spreading information about EU policies, and interviews with experts in the field of SD. The interviews helped to receive views of people who are involved in the implementation, developing or analyzing the sustainable development. The thesis came to the conclusion of synergies between SD strategies on the three levels of governance. Influence of EU and global concerns is visible on the national level. However national sustainable development strategies in Scandinavian countries, built on the fundamental principles of the SD concept, are not identical.