National sustainabilities in Scotland and Wales: a pilot project

本项目旨在评估苏格兰和威尔士民族主义话语和可持续发展话语之间联系的强度，以及这些联系在实践中如何运作，使用两个对比的案例研究。它直面民族主义和可持续发展之间可能存在的潜在联系。民族主义是塑造个人和群体身份的最重要的群体之一，而可持续发展可以说是寻求影响环境、经济和社会未来的关键话语。具体来说，该项目提出了这样一个问题：将更多的权力下放给苏格兰和威尔士，是否有可能带来真正的可持续性变革形式，不仅在他们自己的领土范围内，而且作为英国、欧盟和全球社区的成员。它检验了权力下放开始时的断言：“通过权力下放使政府更接近人民本身就是可持续发展的政策”（DEFRA, 1999），以及随后的主张，即可持续发展最好在这个次州一级实现；权力下放的机构小到足以促进共同利益的出现，但又大到足以对环境、社会、经济和政治进程产生重大影响（Porritt, 2009; Ross, 2012）。同样，权力下放的机构是否使环保组织更容易与决策者联系，从而实现可持续性的变革形式？权力下放的政府是否也拥有适当的法律和行政能力来实际实施变革？因此，这项研究是新颖的，因为它试图通过集中于国家规模来解决可持续性与社区观念之间联系的研究中的一个相对空白；特别是与权力下放相关的各种民族主义。虽然在研究可持续性话语与国家话语和机构之间的联系方面存在一些有限的兴趣，但值得注意的是，它的特点是存在一些弱点：1)几乎没有努力将这项工作综合成一个连贯的整体；2)很少有工作试图研究将民族主义话语与可持续性话语结合起来的概念含义；3)在次国家或权力下放背景下运作的民族主义话语与可持续性话语之间的关系研究和理论化相对不足。该项目通过研究苏格兰和威尔士政府、政府机构、政党和环保非政府组织在民族主义和可持续发展话语之间的联系，解决了这些弱点。除了对民族主义和可持续性话语之间的联系进行综合、批判性和理论上的文献回顾外，该项目还将重点关注两个对比鲜明的试点政策案例研究，这将说明这两套话语之间富有成效和有问题的紧张关系。a)第一个案例研究以围绕苏格兰独立的辩论为中心，将强调以民族主义为主要特征的话语如何成为可持续性话语的关键。这些可持续发展的论述是如何帮助促进或使民族主义辩论成问题的？b)第二个案例研究，重点关注即将在威尔士建立的单一环境机构（SEB）（包括目前的威尔士农村委员会、威尔士环境署和威尔士林业委员会），通过研究主要以环境和可持续性为中心的话语如何与民族主义辩论联系起来，采取了另一种策略？民族主义话语是如何帮助或阻碍作为SEB创建一部分的可持续性话语？

This project aims to assess the strength of the connections between nationalist discourses and discourses of sustainability in Scotland and in Wales and how these connections operate in practice using two contrasting case studies. It tackles head on the potential connections that can exist between nationalism, as one of the most important communities that shapes individual and group identity, and sustainability, arguably, the key discourse that seeks to influence environmental, economic and social futures.Specifically, the project asks whether devolving more power to Scotland and Wales is likely to lead to truly transformative forms of sustainability, not just within their own territorial boundaries, but also as members of the UK, EU and global communities. It tests the assertion made at the outset of devolution: that "bringing government closer to the people through devolution is itself a policy for sustainable development" (DEFRA, 1999) and subsequent claims that sustainability is best delivered at this sub-state level; with devolved bodies being small enough to facilitate the emergence of common interests yet large enough to have a significant impact on environmental, social, economic and political processes (Porritt, 2009; Ross, 2012). Similarly, do devolved bodies enable environmental organisations to connect more readily with decision-makers so that a transformative form of sustainability can be achieved? Do devolved administrations also possess the appropriate legal and executive competence to actually implement change?The research is, thus, novel as it seeks to address a relative lacuna in studies of the connection between sustainability and the idea of community by focusing on the national scale; specifically the various nationalisms associated with devolved administrations. While there has been some limited interest in examining the connection between discourses of sustainabilty and national discourses and institutions, it is noticeable that it has been characterised by some weaknesses: 1) there has been little effort to synthesise this work into a coherent whole; 2) very little work has sought to examine the conceptual implications of conjoining nationalist discourses with sustainability discourses; 3) the relationship between the nationalist discourses operating within sub-state or devolved contexts and discourses of sustainability has been relatively under-researched and under-theorised.The project addresses these weaknesses through a study of the connections drawn in Scotland and Wales - by governments, their agencies, political parties and environmental NGOs - between nationalist and sustainability discourses. As well as providing a synthetic, critical and theoretically-informed literature review of the connections between nationalist and sustainability discourses, the project will focus on two contrasting pilot policy case studies, which will illustrate the productive and problematic tensions between these two sets of discourses.a) The first case study, centred on the debates surrounding independence for Scotland, will highlight how discourses that are predominantly nationalist in character can key into sustainability discourses. How do these sustainability discourses either help to promote or problematise the nationalist debates?b) The second case study, focusing on the upcoming creation of a Single Environmental Body (SEB) in Wales (incorporating the current Countryside Council for Wales, the Environment Agency Wales and Forestry Commission Wales), takes an alternative tack by examining how discourses that are predominantly centred on the environment and sustainability can connect to nationalist debates? How do nationalist discourses help or hinder the sustainability discourses promoted as part of the creation of the SEB?