In times of climate change and public debt, a concern for intergenerational justice should lead us to have a closer look at theories of intergenerational justice. It should also press us to provide institutional design proposals to change the decision-making world that surrounds us. This book provides an exhaustive overview of the most important institutional proposals as well as a systematic and theoretical discussion of their respective features and advantages. It focuses on institutional proposals aimed at taking the interests of future generations more seriously, and does so from the perspective of applied political philosophy, being explicit about the underlying normative choices and the latest developments in the social sciences. It provides citizens, activists, firms, charities, public authorities, policy-analysts, students, and academics with the body of knowledge necessary to understand what our institutional options are and what they entail if we are concerned about today's excessive short-termism.

This important book focuses on how newly emerging institutions for future generations can contribute to tackling large scale global environmental problems, such as threats to biodiversity and climate change. It is especially timely given the new global impetus for decarbonisation, as well as the huge growth of climate litigation and climate protest movements, often led by young people.

This volume analyses key theoretical, institutional and legal aspects of intergenerational equity and justice in multi-level sustainable development treaty implementation.

The recent austerity measures currently adopted in numerous European countries assume that a rise in public debt should automatically result in cuts to social programmes and the privatisation of “inefficiently” managed resources. This type of reasoning is being used to justify the destruction of social rights of citizens for the profit of the private sector, resulting in more limited access to the most fundamental resources such as water, nature, housing, culture, knowledge and information, mainly for the most vulnerable members of society. Such a view, informed solely by short-term growth and profit cycles, is endangering access to those resources not only for current generations but for future ones as well. This book is an attempt to go beyond liberal approaches to intergenerational and distributive justice. It emphasises the role of commons and communities of the commons, driven by the desire to defend and perpetuate those fundamental resources under the threat of expropriation by the state and the market. This book also offers policy makers and citizens, who wish to accept their political responsibility by being active and refusing corporate ideology, some best practices as well as methods and solutions for renewing the configurations of societal relationships through commons, thereby integrating the interests of future generations in the European Community’s decision-making processes and institutions. This is a contribution by the Council of Europe and the International University College of Turin to the protection of the dignity of every person, especially of those who, even though unable to enjoy existing social rights, have the right to benefit from choices and policies that ensure that human life remains unspoiled

Peter Lawrence�s Justice for Future Generations breaks new ground by using a multidisciplinary approach to tackle the issue of what ethical obligations current generations have towards future generations in addressing the threat of climate change. This

This important book focuses on how newly emerging institutions for future generations can contribute to tackling large scale global environmental problems, such as threats to biodiversity and climate change. It is especially timely given the new global impetus for decarbonisation, as well as the huge growth of climate litigation and climate protest movements, often led by young people. Global environmental crises and reactions against short-term thinking have spawned new institutions aimed at giving a voice to future generations in policy-making, such as dedicated commissioners. This book looks at why we need such institutions using approaches from ethics, human rights, sustainable development, intergenerational justice and administrative law. How to design such institutions to maximise their effectiveness, operating principles for such institutions, and case studies from around the world are canvassed. A range of reform proposals are also explored, including mainstreaming future generations' voices in parliamentary processes, commissioners for future generations, human rights-based bodies and deliberative assemblies. This collection brings together philosophers, political and social scientists, lawyers and practitioners. It provides both an introduction to the field and a scholarly in-depth set of studies. It will appeal to academics, policymakers and civil society.

This book discusses imaginary future generations and how current decision-making will influence those future generations. Markets and democracies focus on the present and therefore tend to make us forget that we are living in the present, with ancestors preceding and descendants succeeding us. Markets are excellent devices to equate supply and demand in the short term, but not for allocating resources between current and future generations, since future generations do not exist yet. Democracy is also not “applicable” for future generations, since citizens vote for candidates who will serve members of their, i.e., the current, generation. In order to overcome these shortcomings, the authors discusses imaginary future generations and future ministries in the context of current decision-making in fields such as the environment, urban management, forestry, water management, and finance. The idea of imaginary future generations comes from the Native American Iroquois, who had strong norms that compelled them to incorporate the interests of people seven generations ahead when making decisions.