Publications

UNRISD pursues an active and varied publications programme, which includes in-house and commercially published books, special reports, programme and occasional papers, as well as newsletters on specific events and the Institute’s work in general.

This section provides a catalogue of our publications, and free online access to many of them. We encourage you to subscribe to our free email alerts service to be informed when new publications are posted on this Web site.

Highlights...

March 2021

A New Eco-Social Contract: Vital to Deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Author: Katja Hujo

The 20th century social contract—an implicit bargain between economic imperatives of growth and productivity, and social imperatives of redistribution and social protection—has broken down and cannot sustain the transformative vision of the 2030 Agenda. For the 21st century, UNRISD believes, the contract is in need of a fundamental overhaul. Find out what we have in mind in this new brief.

January 2021

Guidelines for Local Governments on Policies for Social and Solidarity Economy

Author: Hamish Jenkins, Ilcheong Yi, Samuel Brülisauer, Kameni Chaddha

To successfully promote SSE and realize its potential in the context of sustainable local development, policy makers and practitioners need answers to a number of questions. What makes particular policies and programmes effective for SSE? Will these be feasible and adaptable within their various legal, political and socioeconomic contexts? These Guidelines for Local Governments provide responses, explaining the key elements constituting an enabling policy and institutional environment, or “ecosystem”, for SSE. They offer a toolbox that can be used in the development of policies and institutions for SSE at the subnational level.

Business Elites’ Attitudes Toward Taxation and the State: The Case of Chile

February 2021

Business Elites’ Attitudes Toward Taxation and the State: The Case of Chile

Author: Jorge Atria Curi, Julius Duran, Simon Ramirez

Although Chile is considered one of the countries with the highest state capacity in Latin America, its tax policy shares several features with lower-performing countries, such as limited redistribution and a regressive tax structure with limited ability to tackle economic inequality. Based on analysis of state performance and 32 in-depth interviews with members of the Chilean economic elite, the paper reveals divergences between the quality of government spending and elite perceptions on this issue. Among the authors’ recommendations are the need to improve communication strategies to present state performance more clearly.

Responding to Protracted Displacement Using the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus Approach: UNDP and UNHCR Theory of Change—Research and Policy Brief

December 2020

Responding to Protracted Displacement Using the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus Approach: UNDP and UNHCR Theory of Change—Research and Policy Brief

Author: Katja Hujo

Forced displacement is now affecting more than 80 million people in the world and many are in protracted situations. This long-lasting displacement blurs the lines between humanitarian crisis and longer-term development, and creates additional challenges for conflict resolution or prevention. In response we need stronger collaboration between the many actors involved based on an approach which has come to be known as the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus, or triple nexus. In line with the holistic vision of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), such an integrated approach aims to lead to a better understanding of, and more effective responses to, the complexity of protracted displacement, while fostering coherent and complementary collaborations between different partners. The final objective is to create a safe and secure environment for both the forcibly displaced and host populations, where everyone can realize their rights and access services, while contributing to and benefitting from society and the economy in ways that promote resilience and longer-term solutions.

Corporate Sustainability Accounting: What Can and Should Corporations Be Doing?—Full Report

November 2020

Corporate Sustainability Accounting: What Can and Should Corporations Be Doing?—Full Report

Author: Peter Utting, Kelly O'Neill

Today’s global crises—financial, climate and health—as well as the Sustainable Development Goals have raised the bar in terms of expectations regarding corporate sustainability performance. They have also highlighted the need for sustainability policy and practices that address not only the symptoms of unsustainable development, but also the underlying causes associated with structural conditions that reproduce inequality, vulnerability and planetary degradation. How, then, might corporate sustainability disclosure and reporting be repurposed to achieve these ends and, in so doing, measure and promote progress from the perspective of the transformational vision of the SDGs?