3/12/25 - How Can Policy Influence Sustainability

How do governments maintain authority?:

• Cultivating legitimacy.

Government organization:

• Pure democracy: citizens vote directly on policy.

• Representative democracy: Citizens elect officials to make policy.

• Authoritarian government: Rule by one or few without meaningful elections.

Organizing election systems:

• Most democracies employ either a single member district plurality or a proportional representation system:

  • Single member district plurality: elect single representative by selecting the candidate who receives the largest number of votes.

  • Proportional representation system: elects multiple representatives and distributes representation in proportion to each party’s percentage of the vote.

How are environmental policies made?:

• Interest groups are people and organizations with shared interests seeking to influence government.

• Lobbying is a practice in which groups or individuals attempt to persuade a government decision maker.

How are policies designed to influence behavior?:

• Policies are designed to affect the costs and benefits as they pertain to the “5 Ps”.

  • Payments: positive incentive designed to encourage certain actions.

    • Permits: government-authorized permission to engage in otherwise illegal behavior.

  • Prescriptive regulations: mandates about what can/cannot be done.

  • Penalties: disincentives designed to discourage certain actions.

  • Property rights: rights created to achieve policy goals.

  • Persuasion: produces and disseminates information.