CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Penava, Mateja |
|---|---|
| Title | The position of Laudato si on the environmental crisis in relation to sustainable development and degrowth |
| Summary | Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato si” is considered one of last year’s most relevant international documents engaging the economic, social and environmental crises. By using content analysis of three texts – the encyclical, the Brundtland report and “Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era” - I explored the position of the Vatican in relation to sustainable development and degrowth on issues of population and economic growth, development and application of technology and science, as well as the perceived roots for the environmental crisis. Lending papal legitimacy to either approach can have far reaching implications for attitudes and policies in predominantly Catholic countries, and beyond. My research concludes that “Laudato si” is more a kin to degrowth than sustainable development on all of the aforementioned issues except population growth. On this subject the Vatican takes a drastically different approach and powerfully asserts the uniqueness of its position. Similarities between the positions of the Church and degrowth could alter degrowth’s currently marginal position in mainstream discourse by advancing it towards the center of today’s environmental, economic, social, and political debate. As such “Laudato si” could be viewed as an endorsement of an alternative to the present, growth focused, and capitalist model, aimed at its 1.2 billion followers worldwide. The Vatican calls for a cultural, economic, social and individual conversion that would bring about a redefinition of concepts such as development and well-being in a way that is more a kin to the tenets of degrowth than those of sustainable development. |
| Supervisor | Pinter, Laszlo |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/penava_mateja.pdf |
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