The sustainable state: a meta-governance framework

While there are established concepts of the green or environmental state, no clear idea exists of what constitutes a sustainable state and by what standards to evaluate such a state. This article aims to clarify the notion of the sustainable state in terms of a framework of sustainability-oriented meta-governance functions. To this end, a comprehensive idea of sustainability is linked with a meta-governance perspective on the contemporary state. Seven features of sustainability transformation are identified that challenge state governing and that the sustainable state must address in terms of seven meta-governance functions. This systematically derived framework expands on notions of the green or environmental state and sheds new light on the state's role in governing sustainability transformation. The framework can serve as a basis for empirically assessing the extent to which states possess sustainability-oriented meta-governance capacities and for practically shaping state transformations toward sustainability.