Green economy or green society? Contestation and policies for a fair transition

Based on research from the UNRISD inquiry into the social dimensions of green economy, this paper outlines a conceptual and policy approach to bring social concerns more centrally into green economy and sustainable development debates. The paper first examines a wide range of social problems and other issues associated with green economy, reasserting that any development transformation must be both green and fair-leading to a "green society", not just a green economy. But different transition pathways exist, each with different configurations of state, market and society relations, as well as social and developmental implications. The remainder of the paper addresses the key role of social policy, agency and participation in crafting transition paths that are green and fair. The paper argues that comprehensive or transformative social policy, which goes beyond social protection, human capital formation or green jobs by also focusing on redistribution and social reproduction, can play a key role in mitigating unfair consequences, influencing behaviour and transforming patterns of inequality. Achieving a shift towards such policies will depend crucially on addressing the politics of governance itself; specifically, the ways different actors-particularly social movements and those most disadvantaged-contest ideas and policies, participate in governance (that is, in project design and implementation, public policy making and "civil regulation"), and organize and mobilize to resist and influence change. Such arenas of policy and action are crucial both from the perspective of distributional and procedural justice, and for driving deeper structural transformations. The paper concludes by highlighting issues of fragmentation associated with knowledge, institutional arrangements and social agency, and suggests the need for "joined-up analysis, policy and action"

Marketing as a means to transformative social conflict resolution: lessons from transitioning war economies and the Colombian coffee marketing system

Social conflicts are ubiquitous to the human condition and occur throughout markets, marketing processes, and marketing systems.When unchecked or unmitigated, social conflict can have devastating consequences for consumers, marketers, and societies, especially when conflict escalates to war. In this article, the authors offer a systemic analysis of the Colombian war economy, with its conflicted shadow and coping markets, to show how a growing network of fair-trade coffee actors has played a key role in transitioning the country’s war economy into a peace economy. They particularly draw attention to the sources of conflict in this market and highlight four transition mechanisms — i.e., empowerment, communication, community building and regulation — through which marketers can contribute to peacemaking and thus produce mutually beneficial outcomes for consumers and society. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for marketing theory, practice, and public policy

Crystal and molecular structure of a new μ-oxo-bridged iron(III) dimer formed with the nitrilotriacetate ligand

The molecular structure of the oxo-bridged dimer barium μ-oxo-bis{aqua[nitrilo-κN-triacetato(3-)-κ 3O,O′,O″]ferrate(1-)}-water(1/4), Ba[{Fe(nta)(H2O)}2O]·4H2O, which has an Fe-O-Fe angle of 153.2(6)°has been determined by X-ray crystallography. The iron ions are six-co-ordinate with one tetradentate nta ligand and one water molecule completing the co-ordination sphere. The relationship of this compound to other iron-nta complexes is discussed in the context of the hydrolysis reactions of iron(III) in aqueous solutions.</p