The Role of Sustainability as Ideology in shaping Collaborative Governance within the European Union.

This paper explores and examines issues and challenges related to sustainability, analysing the concept as a possible new ideology at a local level and worldwide. Using information gathered from questionnaires and in-depth interviews with 27 experts, information about sustainability and its role in becoming an ideology with the power of forging and shaping the future of the EU. Findings suggest that sustainability resembles an ideology according to recent Laclauian and Zizekian definitions, although widely diluted to a weak approach exhibited by 'green economy' policy initiatives. With the on-going environmental and climate crisis, more recent initiatives of EU public management initiatives such as the European Green Deal seem to follow a more rigorous ideological sustainability approach. Findings from this study provide further insight on how sustainability can inform and guide the EU wider agenda, and point toward the raise of a new ideology based on sustainability itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]