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Positional Analysis: A Multidimensional and Democracy-Oriented Approach to Decision-Making and Sustainability

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  • Peter Söderbaum

    (School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University, 721 23 Västerås, Sweden)

Abstract

Essential principles of democracy are threatened in many parts of the world. In mainstream economics textbooks, reference to democracy is marginal or non-existent. At issue is if economics as a discipline can contribute to strengthen democracy in policy-making and decision situations more generally. In this essay, it is proposed that democracy becomes part of the definition of economics. While mainstream neoclassical cost–benefit analysis (CBA) is criticized as being technocratic, positional analysis (PA) connected with institutional ecological economics is advocated and presented with its essential elements. While a specific ideological orientation with emphasis on markets is built into CBA, PA represents an attempt to identify more than one ideological orientation or narrative as relevant among actors related to an issue. This is part of an attempt to carry out a many-sided analysis. If we wish to make the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) part of analysis, then multidimensional thinking is needed. PA is an attempt to avoid the “monetary reductionism” of CBA in favor of an analysis where monetary and non-monetary impacts (of different kinds) are separated and where, particularly on the non-monetary side, issues of inertia and irreversibility of impacts are observed.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Söderbaum, 2020. "Positional Analysis: A Multidimensional and Democracy-Oriented Approach to Decision-Making and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-11, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:14:p:5555-:d:382662
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gunnar Myrdal, 1978. "Institutional Economics," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 771-783, December.
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    4. Myrdal, Gunnar, 1978. "Political and Institutional Economics," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number GLS11.
    5. Brown, Judy, 2009. "Democracy, sustainability and dialogic accounting technologies: Taking pluralism seriously," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 313-342.
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