Library

By: Ulrich Schachtschneider, Frank Adler, Jana Flemming, Barbara Sennholz-Weinhard, Ellen Ehmke

Special session How could counter-hegemony become realistic, which is necessary for a democratic transition? Our thesis: We need a bundle of “non-reformist reforms” (Gorz) which tie on everyday social needs and problems (time pressure, fears of future or descent, deficient recognition etc.) and propose alternative ways of their satisfaction or solution. The chances and barriers of this strat...

By: Viviana Asara

Abstract: Under regimes of austerity, social movements´ transformative eco-politics may appear endangered. What kinds of environmentalism and radical imaginaries can unfold in social movements in crisis-ridden societies? I focus on the ‘movement of the squares’ during its post-encampment phase, with a case study of three urban projects of the Indignados movement in Barcelona. Observation of the...

By: Patrik Gažo

Presentation [part of the standard session "Co-operatives, work and degrowth"] I argue that degrowth strategies should be focused more on the industrial sectors and on those who work there. More concretely, the automotive industry is economically-speaking one of the most important sectors in Central Europe, with car workers having great potential to be a transformational force. Presenters...

By: Dani Rodrik

No one should expect the pandemic to alter – much less reverse – tendencies that were evident before the crisis. Neoliberalism will continue its slow death, populist autocrats will become even more authoritarian, and the left will continue to struggle to devise a program that appeals to a majority of voters.

By: Max Koch, Martin Fritz

The emerging concept of sustainable welfare attempts to integrate environmental sustainability and social welfare research. Oriented at a mid-term re-embedding of Western production and consumption norms into planetary limits, it suggests the development of “eco-social” policies in the rich countries. In this theoretical context, this article empirically investigates the relationships between a...

By: Women & Environment International magazine

Climate chaos and worsening income disparities (both local and global) make it more important than ever to forge respectful alliances between academics and front line community activists --the majority of whom are women. Information-sharing of many varieties, and mobilizing this knowledge for local grass-roots action as well as policy formation (and removing perverse policies!), should happen h...

By: Cle-Anne Gabriel

Cle-Anne Gabriel is a Lecturer at the University of Queensland, and the Business School’s Director for the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education. Her research focuses on the areas of sustainable development and postgrowth futures. During our conversation, Cle-Anne Gabriel questions the compatibility between environmental sustainability and economic growth. Is a de-pr...

By: Barry Gils, Jamie Morgan

This Special Editorial on the Climate Emergency makes the case that although we are living in the time of Global Climate Emergency we are not yet acting as if we are in an imminent crisis. The authors review key aspects of the institutional response and climate science over the past several decades and the role of the economic system in perpetuating inertia on reduction of greenhouse gas emissi...

By: Timothée Parrique

What is degrowth and what are its implications for political economy? Divided in three parts, this dissertation explains the why, what and how of degrowth.

By: Léa Sébastien, Jérôme Pelenc, Nicolas Merveille, Grégoire Wallenborn, Julien Milanesi, Julien Vastenaekels, Fany Lajarthe, Jérôme Ballet, Manuel Cervera-Marzal, Aurélie Carimentrand, Bruno Frère

This article addresses the issue of sustainability transformations in Ecological Economics through the lens of social movements, by linking environmental resistance movements and alternative movements. We advocate for a more politicized, social-movement oriented and place-based approach to sustainability transformations, and contribute to the development of a more political and emancipatory con...

By: Giorgos Kallis

"Self-limitation is not about constraining, but about defining collectively as societies our limits." This blogpost introduces the key ideas of Giorgos Kallis' new book Limits. Why Malthus was wrong and why environmentalists should care (Stanford University Press, 2019)

By: Max Koch

The limits of the environmental state in the context of the provision of economic growth are addressed by applying materialist state theory, state-rescaling approaches and the degrowth/postgrowth literature. I compare state roles in a capitalist growth economy and in a postgrowth economy geared towards bio-physical parameters such as matter and energy throughput and the provision of ‘sustainabl...

By: Pasi Heikkurinen, Pierre Tosi, Jana Lozanoska

Abstract: Hannah Arendt's three-fold conceptualization of human activity offers a useful base for understanding the necessity of degrowth and the kinds of activities required to achieve it. The article argues that the different roles of labour, work, and action should be acknowledged and scrutinized in detail to appreciate the underpinnings of contemporary over-production and over-consumption,...

By: Ekaterina Chertkovskaya, Alexander Paulsson, Stefania Barca

Since the 1970s, the degrowth idea has been proposed by scholars, public intellectuals and activists as a powerful call to reject the obsession of neoliberal capitalism with economic growth, an obsession which continues apace despite the global ecological crisis and rising inequalities. In the past decade, degrowth has gained momentum and become an umbrella term for various social movements whi...

By: Sam Bliss, Leah Temper

This essay is the first in a series of articles that aim to inform the GND through the lens of ecological economics. The series will feature short position papers by students of the Economics for the Anthropocene program, a three-university collaboration to train graduate students in ecological economics, as well as by other invited experts. These short articles will focus on thematic issues...

By: Jon D. Erickson, Michael B. Wironen

Ecological economics recognizes economic activity as a biophysical process mediated by social systems and ultimately subject to the constraints of a finite earth system. The Anthropocene discourse appears as validation of the central concerns of ecological economics yet throws into relief its limits as a normative transdiscipline oriented toward social transformation. We review ecological econo...

By: Robert Fletcher, Asunción Blanco-Romero, Macià Blázquez-Salom, Ivan Murray Mas

Abstract: This article outlines a conceptual framework and research agenda for exploring the relationship between tourism and degrowth. Rapid and uneven expansion of tourism as a response to the 2008 economic crisis has proceeded in parallel with the rise of social discontent concerning so-called “overtourism.” Despite decades of concerted global effort to achieve sustainable development, mean...

By: Patricia E. Perkins

Abstract: Economic inequality reduces the political space for addressing climate change, by producing fear-based populism. Only when the safety, social status, and livelihoods of all members of society are assured will voluntary, democratic decisions be possible to reverse climate change and fairly mitigate its effects. Socio-environmental and climate justice, commoning, and decolonization are...

By: Teresa Anderson, Stefania Barca, Grace Blakeley, Friedrich Bohn, Sam Bright, Giacomo D'Alisa, Nick Dearden, Nicoletta Dentico, Laura C. Zanetti-Domingues, Dirk Ehnts, Skender Fani, Julia Fish, Charlotte Hanson, Jason Hickel, Nick Jacobs, Giorgos Kallis, Tessa Khan, Mat Lawrence, Laurie Laybourn-Langton, Emanuele Leonardi, Ruth London, Riccardo Mastini, Bill McKibben, Julian Brave NoiseCat, David Powell, Jérémy Rodrigues, Jakob Schäfer, Christoph Schneider, Giovanna Sissa, Isaac Stanley, Will Stronge, Sean Sweeney

Europe today confronts two crises. The first is an economic crisis, with rising levels of poverty, insecurity, and homelessness across the continent. The second is a climate and environmental crisis, with severe consequences for Europe’s front-line communities and even more perilous ones on the horizon. Both crises are the products of Europe’s political decisions, and they are closely bound t...

By: Max Koch

"Versuche, das Wachstum des Bruttoinlandsprodukts (BIP) von Umweltindikatoren wie den ökologischen Fußabdrücken von Produktion und Konsumtion sowie Treibhausgasemissionen absolut und auf globalem Niveau zu entkoppeln, sind bis dato gescheitert (Jackson 2017). Das auf Wirtschaftswachstum setzende, energie- und stoffintensive westliche Wohlstandsmodell lässt sich nicht auf den Rest der Erde übert...