Interpreting sustainability: An analysis of sustainable development narratives among developed nations

Different actors and agencies, including national governments, interpret the concept of "sustainability" in various ways making it a contested term that invariably produces a range of often conflicting outcomes. This lack of definition clarity has contributed to sustainable development policy implementation outcomes that do not appear to be tackling the scope of the problems sustainable development is meant to address (Mebratu, 1998). The way developed nations, in particular, define and interpret "sustainability" has implications for the way sustainable development will be implemented globally; the most developed nations have been tasked with financing and leading the sustainable development agenda by the United Nations.;This study examined the sustainable development narrative(s) used by high-income developed nations in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as a way to elucidate the sustainable development policy boundaries of many of the most politically and economically powerful nation states in the international system. Using Deborah Stone's policy analysis framework (2002) in a narrative policy analysis of national sustainable development strategies (NSDSs), this interpretive study derived themes consistent among twenty three high-income OECD nations to determine the types of narratives used to frame sustainable development. These themes were then mapped onto Neil Harrison's (2000) sustainable development narrative taxonomy (equity, efficiency, and ethics) to explore how these nations situate themselves in the larger sustainable development discourse and the policy implications of the narratives that were used.;The OECD nations that were examined adopted what Harrison refers to as the efficiency narrative. Eleven themes were derived from the narrative analysis, eight of these fell into the efficiency heading. The challenges associated with this narrative are examined in the conclusion. Yet, language that is consistent with the equity narrative was also found consistently in the strategies - three of the derived themes fell under this category. Thus, I suggest that Harrison's taxonomy of sustainable development narratives is not an accurate model of the global sustainable development discourse and I offer an alternative model for understanding the discourse and its implications - the spectrum model of sustainable development narratives. Finally, recommendations for future research were suggested to both improve the spectrum model and to begin comparing narratives among sustainable development leaders and laggards.