The emergence of new states as a chance for sustainability politics. The Catalan independence movement

Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Politics - Environmental Policy, grade: 1,3, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, course: Umweltpolitik, language: English, abstract: This essay explores the chances which the creation of a new state can offer in terms of increasing its sustainability. As an example, it takes a look at the Catalan independence process. While the emergence of new states often is met with some amount of scepticism, especially by neighbouring states already in existence - be it for fear of armed conflicts, regional instability or surging nationalisms or simply out of complacency, a 'let's just leave it as it is'- mentality - there is no denying that a new state can offer many possibilities for sustainable development. Especially if the process leading to the formation of the new state fullfills certain predicaments such as the political activation of a large part of the population, a high level of education, a general interest in sustainability issues, an involvement not only of political but also of civil society movements in its creation, the political will of those in charge of the process to achieve ambitous sustainability goals and the political 'guts' to start again more or less from scratch.

Nach dem Studium der Klassischen Philologie in Freiburg (MA) arbeitete ich einige Zeit als Latein- und DaF-Lehrer. Dann folgte ich meiner alten Kinheitsliebe zur Natur und studierte Environmental and Sustainability Studies in Lueneburg und Barcelona (BSc). Zur Zeit spezialisiere ich mich weiter und absolviere einen MSc in Marine Environmental Protection in Bangor (Wales).