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Abstract:
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"Can a set of articles published by some of the most prominent ecologists of our time be analyzed in a fashion that increases our confidence about the meaning of sustainable development? Yes, according to Emery Roe's (1998) Taking Complexity Seriously: Policy Analysis, Triangulation and Sustainable Development.
"The objective of this book is to analyze the debate about sustainable development that took place in 1993 in the journal Ecological Applications. This debate was sparked by an article in Science by Ludwig et al. (1993), who stated, among other things, that plans founded on claims of sustainability should be 'distrusted.' Roe not only analyzes the views of various ecologists on sustainable development, but he does this from the perspective of four specific theories and frameworks. These include Girardian economic theory (dealt with in Part I of the book), cultural theory (Part II), critical theory (Part III), and the local justice framework (Part IV).
"The reason Roe selected these four approaches is because they differ so dramatically from each other. By taking these approaches, Roe is making use of a conventional method in the social sciences known as triangulation. Triangulation uses multiple methods, databases, and theories to study the same object, event, or phenomenon. In triangulation, the selected approaches should be as radically different (orthogonal) as possible, and each approach should function as a critique of the others to 'confirm the complexity' analyzed. As Roe puts it, triangulation may increase 'our confidence as to what sustainable development is all about, given the admitted complexity of the topic.'"
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