ABSTRACT
Sustainable development, by embracing coupled dynamics of societal and ecological systems on a global scale and over the long term, is an extremely ambitious concept. It provokes dispute because it calls into question concepts, institutions and everyday practices that are based on faith in progress and articulates a responsibility of society for the outcome of these complex interactions. Sustainable development thus stirs up a new debate about the possibility of steering development (Norgaard, 1994). It does so by challenging common assumptions about the definition of goals, predictive knowledge and centralized powers as preconditions of steering.
Sustainable development concerns the integration or balancing of potentially conflicting values and related risk perceptions. Cultural diversity and ongoing developments make sustainability goals a subject of controversy and change. Steering, therefore, has to cope with ambivalence and conflict.
Interactions between society, technology and nature lie beyond the reach of disciplinary scientific knowledge. Cause-and-effect relations are highly complex and often non-linear. The predictability of the effects of human intervention is limited. For this reason, steering has to cope with fundamental uncertainty and the possibility of unintended consequences.
Structural societal changes result from the interplay of diverse factors (political power, law, science, lifestyles, technology, etc.). These factors are not under the control of any one single actor. Many actors with special interests and resources are involved in shaping transformation. On account of this, steering has to face the necessity of co-ordinating the strategies of different actors.
