"Institutions of Sustainability" as an Analytical Framework and Research Heuristics

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This proposal describes the research and communication the applicant intends to conduct during a five months visit at Indiana University in the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis in Bloomington (www.indiana.edu/~workshop/). The background of the research process in which the applicant finds himself is the extended capacity of humans to use and overuse both geo- and bio-physical systems, which has increased rapidly during the twentieth century. As a consequence, adequate theoretical approaches and empirical methodologies are required to develop a proper explanation and understanding of the complexity and diversity of naturerelated institutions and governance structures in socio-ecological systems. A central prerequisite to achieve this are analytical frameworks which have the capacity to serve as research heuristics for guiding research processes towards “Institutions of Sustainability”. This project aims to refine, improve and extend analytical frameworks existing in different schools to arrive at a framework for analyzing Social-Ecological Systems in an institutional perspective.