College of Liberal Arts → A Cornerstone College Texas A&M University

Fall Transatlantic Symposium

The fall Transatlantic Symposium features joint project work between the ASKO EUROPA-STIFTUNG and the College of Liberal Arts. This is the fourth in a series of five symposia alternating between Germany and Texas A&M in which experts from the United States and European Union discuss important topics about the future and their perspectives on such issues. The venue of the symposium alternates each year between the Europäischen Akademie, Oztenhausen and Texas A&M University.

This year’s symposium titled Sustainable Development: How to Bridge the Knowledge-Action Gap is part two on the topic, this year exploring the added value of social and cultural perspectives. The symposium will take place at Texas A&M University October 14-16, 2009.

Sustainable development has been on the political agenda for more than two decades and has since evolved into a popular and powerful concept.  Sustainability tells the compelling story that economic, environmental as well as social concerns can be addressed in a balanced and mutually beneficial manner while contributing to intergenerational justice. The emphasis of the sustainability concept on ‘win-win’ scenarios, in particular with regard to the environment and the economy, is persuasive from an aggregate and long-term perspective. However, when it comes to the operational level of actually implementing sustainable solutions the basic argument of sustainability seems to lose its persuasiveness and power as a guiding principle for action. After all, the sustainable development paradigm implies a radical restructuring of current social and economic systems with redistributive effects, where not every producer, farmer or consumer will gain. Implementation of sustainability has been far less successful than the popularity and acceptance of the concept would suggest, even if there is a growing awareness among the civil societies that there is no reasonable alternative to sustainability. Although systematic education and information of the civil society is of critical importance within this context, it is far more a necessary condition than a sufficient one with regard to the successful implementation of sustainability.

The implementation problem becomes even more pressing if one takes into account that scientific evidence regarding climate change and the continuing unsustainable use of natural resources does not leave any doubt: action is needed now. This workshop explicitly diverts from natural science debates and shifts the research focus to the human side as well as the social implications of sustainable development. It is argued that without a better understanding of the political, social and cultural factors that influence processes of policy-making as well as implementation, sustainable development will remain a rather abstract and elusive project.

Against this background the 2009 Transatlantic Fall Symposium explores critical aspects of sustainability from various social science perspectives and seeks to identify key problems and challenges, but also viable approaches of how to bridge the knowledge action gap. The symposium consists of two parts: three workshops to facilitate exchange among experts (see below), and a plenary session open to the public to synthesize and draw conclusions from the debates.

Workshop I : The scientific challenge: Dealing with the blind spots of natural science approaches

  • Laurent Baechler (Sciences Po Paris and Institut Européen des Hautes Etudes Internationales, Nice, France) Articulation between short term and long term in the conception of the set of problems of Sustainable development
  • Kristina Kurze (Universität Osnabrück, Germany) The role of discourses in sustainable development: the case of European energy policy
  • Eric Rothenbuhler (Texas A&M University, Department of Communication) Sustainability and self-referentiality in social and cultural systems


Workshop II : The political challenge: Which factors inhibit and facilitate sustainable development?

  • Eric Lindquist (Texas A&M University, Bush School of Government and Public Service) Sub-national governance for sustainability and climate change in the United States: the current situation and prospects for the future
  • Hartmut Marhold (Centre International de Formation Europeenne (CIFE), Nice/Berlin, France/Germany) Sustainable development under the constraints of the current economic crisis
  • Peter Schmidt (Institute for Strategic Analysis of the Future, Wolfrathausen, Germany; Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada) Sustainable development as part of security policy in the US and in Europe


Workshop III: The social/cultural challenge: Are we ready for fundamental changes?

  • Gyöngyvér Gyene (ELTE Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, Budapest, Hungary) What drives people in adopting and rejecting sustainable solutions?
  • Paul Christensen (Texas A&M University, Department of English) The American dilemma on global warming: the feud from within
  • Adam Seipp (Texas A&M University, Department of History) European reconstruction and the pre-history of sustainable development


Concluding Plenary Session : How to bridge the knowledge-action gap? Prospects from the practitioner’s point of view

  • Gene Kornegay (President & COO, Globex Energy, Inc., College Station, Texas)
  • Volker Wendt (Deputy Practice Leader, Energy, Environment & Climate Change, Burson-Marstellar, Brussels, Belgium)


The symposium is directed, organized, and sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University, the Department of Political Science at Texas A&M University, and the ASKO EUROPA-STIFTUNG.