Towards a Natural Social Contract: Transformative Social-Ecological Innovation for a Sustainable, Healthy and Just Society

This open access book states that the endemic societal faultlines of our times are deeply intertwined and that they confront us with challenges affecting the security and sustainability of our societies. The author, Prof. Dr. Patrick Huntjens, argues that to overcome these existential challenges a fundamental shift is needed from our current anthropocentric and economic growth-oriented approach to a more ecocentric and regenerative approach. He advocates a Natural Social Contract and procedural framework and states that in a Natural Social Contract, society cannot rely on the market or state alone for solutions to grand societal challenges, nor leave them to individual responsibility. Rather, these problems need to be solved through transformative social-ecological innovation (TSEI), which looks beyond individual responsibility and instead encompasses collective effort prioritizing sustainability, health, and justice in all social-ecological systems. The TSEI framework presented in this book helps to diagnose and advance innovation and change across sectors and disciplines, and at different levels of governance. It identifies intervention points and helps formulate sustainable solutions for policymakers, administrators, concerned citizens and professionals in moving towards a more just and equitable society.

A wide readership of students, researchers and policy makers interested in social innovation, transition studies, social policy, development studies, social justice, climate change, environmental studies, political science and economics will find this cutting-edge book particularly useful.

"As a sustainability transition researcher, I am truly excited about this book. Two unique aspects of the book are that it considers bigger transformation issues (such as societies' relationship with nature, purpose and justice) than those studied in transition studies and offers analytical frameworks and methods for taking up the challenge of achieving change on the ground."

- Prof. Dr. Rene Kemp, United Nations University and Maastricht Sustainability Institute