Green Transformations in the global South: opening the black-box of a pro-active state and the management of sustainability trade-offs in Vietnam and Costa-Rica (GreeTS)

Basic data for this project

Description

The GreeTS research group will analyze the conditions, forms and implications of policy changes in the land-use and energy fields in Costa Rica and Vietnam. GreeTS starts from the puzzling observation that two countries from the global South with different political systems in terms of their state-society relations and historical records of national green politics have both produced ambitious formal commitments towards substantial green transformations across the economic, ecological and social dimensions. Thus GreeTS will (1) analyze the role of different change agents in this process and will (2) ask under which conditions formal commitment is actually turned into substantial action and (3) trace trade-offs and barriers at various scales towards effective policy implementation. Special attention will be paid to the role of national elites, state bureaucracies and state-society relations. On the basis of these insights, the research group will be able to formulate also policy relevant conclusions and recommendations.