Library

By: Bengi Akbulut

Abstract: Critical perspectives on economic growth have laid bare the fragility of the assumed link between material growth and socio-ecological wellbeing. The appeal of economic growth, however, goes beyond the economic sphere. As a societal goal, growth is often mobilized to pre-empt and/or co-opt opposition around issues of social justice and redistribution. Not only does the constitution o...

By: Giorgos Kallis, Federico Demaria, Karen Bakker

Abstract: The term ‘décroissance’ (degrowth) signifies a process of political and social transformation that reduces a society's material and energy use while improving the quality of life. Degrowth calls for decolonizing imaginaries and institutions from – in Ursula Le Guin's words – ‘a one-way future consisting only of growth’. Recent scholarship has focused on the ecological and social cost...

Abstract: Insofar as development implies economic growth, the term 'sustainable development' appears to some as a contradiction in terms. However, such conclusions still lack a thorough examination of the conceptual structure of the two terms between which there is a purported contradiction. In order to address this issue, the present paper scrutinises some of the assumptions which underwrite ...

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: Kristoffer Wilén, Maria Sandberg, Kristian Klockars

Abstract: Scientists agree that changes in the organization of human society and economy are needed to stop the degradation of the natural environment. The most commonly proposed solution, green growth, has been increasingly criticized, but the offered alternative of degrowth has remained a marginal undertaking in academia and in practice. This article further develops the argument for degrowt...

By: Oliver Richters, Andreas Siemoneit

Economic growth remains a prominent political goal, despite its conflicts with ecological sustainability. Are growth policies only a question of political or individual will, or do ‘growth imperatives’ make them inescapable? We structure the debate along two dimensions: (a) degree of coerciveness between free will and coercion, and (b) agents affected. With carefully derived micro level definit...

By: Beatriz Rodríguez-Labajos, Patrick Bond, Ivonne Yánez, Lucie Greyl, Serah Munguti, Godwin Uyi Ojo, Winfridus Overbeek

Both environmental justice (EJ) and degrowth movements warn against increasing the physical size of the economy. They both oppose extractivism and debt-fuelled economies, as well as the untrammelled profit motive which fails to incorporate full environmental and social costs. They both rely upon social movements that have led scholarship in its activities and achievements, in part through cha...

By: Irina Velicu

While the critique to economic growth is quintessential in the degrowth scholarship, one may observe a similar focus in various environmental justice movements around the world. This is particularly visible when it comes to the increasing perception that mega-development projects are both unjust and unsustainable, threatening the survival of people and environments. In this paper, we illustra...

By: Olivier Malay

The last four decades have seen a proliferation of new indicators aiming to challenge GDP. But do they really produce new outcomes? By observing the rankings they produce (compared to those produced by GDP), the potential of 6 Beyond GDP indicators to suggest a way towards a more social and ecological society has been examined. The conclusion is that rankings from indicators initiated by powerf...

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: 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: Kristin Langen

Die natürlichen Ressourcen müssen geschont werden. Darüber herrscht große Einigkeit, jedoch nicht über den Weg dorthin: Die einen plädieren für ein „grünes Wirtschaftswunder“ mit Zukunftstechnologien. Die anderen fordern den Abschied vom Wachstum. Zeitfragen, Beitrag vom 01.10.2019

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: Tim Jackson, Peter A. Victor

Can the global economy grow indefinitely, decoupled from the Earth's limitations? Science 22 Nov 2019, Vol. 366, Issue 6468, pp. 950-951

By: Political Economy for the End Times

A new podcast by "Political Economy for the End Times", interviewing Gareth Dale. The topics discussed are capitalist time vs. ecological time, catastrophism and civilisation collapse, ideologies of economic growth, green growth, socialist techno-utopianism, degrowth, and the Green New Deal.

By: George Martine, Jose Eustaquio Alves

Scientists warn that human activity in the Anthropocene is causing the transgression of several planetary boundaries. The population/environment/development equation has become insoluble. This paper reviews the trajectory of climate change and discusses the shortcomings of ongoing efforts to address it. It analyzes the current crisis in global governance, fostered by widespread disenchantment w...

By: Andreas Siemoneit

Worldwide, economic growth is a prominent political goal, despite its severe conflicts with ecological sustainability. Contributing to the debate on economic ‘growth imperatives’, this article explores the thesis that both firms and consumers frequently acquire goods that increase their efficiency (productivity). For firms, efficiency is accepted as a main investment motive, but for consumers i...

By: Benedikt Schmid

In the light of social and environmental unsustainability and injustice, scholars from geography and neighboring disciplines question incumbent socioeconomic trajectories. Empirical evidence renders the continuing attachment to a growth‐based economy and its reconcilability with ecological limits increasingly implausible. Instead, a lively transdisciplinary debate explores alternative forms of ...

By: Julien-François Gerber, Rajeswari S. Raina

Abstract: The critique of growth is one of the defining features of ecological economics. Yet ecological economists have had relatively little to say about “post-growth” in the global South. In this article, we propose a new definition of post-growth as the combined application and theorization of degrowth, agrowth, steady-state economics and post-development. We then discuss – with special re...

By: Angel Pujalte

Durante las presentaciones individuales de la Conferencia el autor planteó la importancia de dimensionar el potencial de crecimiento para conocer la necesidad de descrecimineto.