Democracy's Myopia: The Search for Correction Aids

That democracy, and in particular the currently dominant form of democracy, liberal democracy, has difficulty dealing with long-term challenges, has been widely recognised. This is problematic for a wide range of policy areas, but perhaps most markedly so in the environmental area. Governments have adopted a range of cognitive, policy and institutional means to ‘bring in the future’, but the effectiveness and implications for democracy of these are questionable. This article discusses the limitations of some of these tools, and puts forward some ideas by which the myopia of liberal-democratic systems might be diminished.

Keywords::

• environmental policy
• green planning
• liberal democracy
• long-term policy
• national sustainable development councils
• sustainable development

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ton Bührs

Ton Bührs is Associate Professor in Environmental Policy with the Department of Environmental Management, Lincoln University, New Zealand.