IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v223y2024ics0921800924001526.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Problematising degrowth strategising: On the role of compromise, material interests, and coercion

Author

Listed:
  • Bärnthaler, Richard

Abstract

Degrowth has been at the centre of ecological economics since the days of its inception. Recently, degrowth scholarship and practice have turned to questions of strategy. To contribute to this debate, this paper uses the methodology of problematisation to reveal and discuss unquestioned assumptions that underpin discursive degrowth-strategy practices and hinder effective strategising. Based on Buch-Hansen's assessment of the (not yet actualised) prerequisites for a degrowth paradigm shift, discursive practices are analysed against the aim of building a comprehensive coalition of social forces and achieving broad-based consent. In addition, the paper draws on Gramscian theory to introduce a third unactualised prerequisite: the will to coerce and rule. The analysis contributes to further developing a theory of deep social-ecological-economic change.

Suggested Citation

  • Bärnthaler, Richard, 2024. "Problematising degrowth strategising: On the role of compromise, material interests, and coercion," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:223:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924001526
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108255
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800924001526
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108255?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Bärnthaler & Andreas Novy & Lea Arzberger & Astrid Krisch & Hans Volmary, 2024. "The power to transform structures: power complexes and the challenges for realising a wellbeing economy," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Buch-Hansen, Hubert, 2018. "The Prerequisites for a Degrowth Paradigm Shift: Insights from Critical Political Economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 157-163.
    3. Trainer, Ted, 2020. "De-growth: Some suggestions from the Simpler Way perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Novy, Andreas & Barlow, Nathaniel & Frankhauser, Julia, 2022. "Transformative Innovation," SRE-Discussion Papers 01/2022, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    5. Stratford, Beth, 2020. "The Threat of Rent Extraction in a Resource-constrained Future," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    6. Jason Hickel & Giorgos Kallis, 2020. "Is Green Growth Possible?," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 469-486, June.
    7. D’Alisa, Giacomo & Kallis, Giorgos, 2020. "Degrowth and the State," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    8. Jamie Peck, 2013. "Disembedding Polanyi: Exploring Polanyian Economic Geographies," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(7), pages 1536-1544, July.
    9. zu Ermgassen, Sophus O.S.E. & Drewniok, Michal P. & Bull, Joseph W. & Corlet Walker, Christine M. & Mancini, Mattia & Ryan-Collins, Josh & Cabrera Serrenho, André, 2022. "A home for all within planetary boundaries: Pathways for meeting England's housing needs without transgressing national climate and biodiversity goals," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    10. Koch, Max, 2022. "State-civil society relations in Gramsci, Poulantzas and Bourdieu: Strategic implications for the degrowth movement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    11. Jamie Peck, 2013. "For Polanyian Economic Geographies," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(7), pages 1545-1568, July.
    12. Gough, Ian, 2020. "The case for Universal Basic Services," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107815, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. repec:sae:envval:v:22:y:2013:i:2:p:287-308 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Bärnthaler, Richard & Gough, Ian, 2023. "Provisioning for sufficiency: envisaging production corridors," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119420, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Richard Bärnthaler & Andreas Novy & Leonhard Plank, 2021. "The Foundational Economy as a Cornerstone for a Social–Ecological Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.
    16. Mastini, Riccardo & Kallis, Giorgos & Hickel, Jason, 2021. "A Green New Deal without growth?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    17. repec:sae:envval:v:27:y:2018:i:3:p:245-267 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Peter Newell, 2019. "Trasformismo or transformation? The global political economy of energy transitions," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 25-48, January.
    19. zu Ermgassen, Sophus & Drewniok, Michal & Bull, Joseph & Walker, Christine Corlet & Mancini, Mattia & Ryan-Collins, Josh & Serrenho, André Cabrera, 2022. "A home for all within planetary boundaries: pathways for meeting England’s housing needs without transgressing national climate and biodiversity goals," OSF Preprints 5kxce, Center for Open Science.
    20. Brand-Correa, Lina I. & Steinberger, Julia K., 2017. "A Framework for Decoupling Human Need Satisfaction From Energy Use," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 43-52.
    21. Buch-Hansen, Hubert & Nesterova, Iana, 2023. "Less and more: Conceptualising degrowth transformations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    22. Spash, Clive L., 2020. "A tale of three paradigms: Realising the revolutionary potential of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    23. Margaret Haderer, 2020. "Revisiting the Right to the City, Rethinking Urban Environmentalism: From Lifeworld Environmentalism to Planetary Environmentalism," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-13, February.
    24. Andreas Novy & Nathan Barlow & Julia Fankhauser, 2022. "Transformative Innovation," SRE-Disc sre-disc-2022_01, Institute for Multilevel Governance and Development, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard Bärnthaler & Andreas Novy & Lea Arzberger & Astrid Krisch & Hans Volmary, 2024. "The power to transform structures: power complexes and the challenges for realising a wellbeing economy," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Kristian Kongshøj, 2023. "Social policy in a future of degrowth? Challenges for decommodification, commoning and public support," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Tallgauer, Maximilian & Schank, Christoph, 2024. "Challenging the growth-prosperity Nexus: Redefining undergraduate economics education for the Anthropocene," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    4. Koch, Max, 2022. "State-civil society relations in Gramsci, Poulantzas and Bourdieu: Strategic implications for the degrowth movement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    5. Engler, John-Oliver & Kretschmer, Max-Friedemann & Rathgens, Julius & Ament, Joe A. & Huth, Thomas & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2024. "15 years of degrowth research: A systematic review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    6. Vogel, Jefim & Guerin, Gauthier & O'Neill, Daniel W. & Steinberger, Julia K., 2024. "Safeguarding livelihoods against reductions in economic output," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    7. Polewsky, Max & Hankammer, Stephan & Kleer, Robin & Antons, David, 2024. "Degrowth vs. Green Growth. A computational review and interdisciplinary research agenda," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    8. Buch-Hansen, Hubert & Nesterova, Iana, 2021. "Towards a science of deep transformations: Initiating a dialogue between degrowth and critical realism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    9. Olk, Christopher & Schneider, Colleen & Hickel, Jason, 2023. "How to pay for saving the world: Modern Monetary Theory for a degrowth transition," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120343, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Buch-Hansen, Hubert & Nesterova, Iana, 2023. "Less and more: Conceptualising degrowth transformations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    11. Morgan, J. & Chu, C.M. & Haines-Doran, T., 2023. "Competent retrofitting policy and inflation resilience: The cheapest energy is that which you don't use," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    12. Richard Bärnthaler & Andreas Novy & Leonhard Plank, 2021. "The Foundational Economy as a Cornerstone for a Social–Ecological Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.
    13. Olk, Christopher & Schneider, Colleen & Hickel, Jason, 2023. "How to pay for saving the world: Modern Monetary Theory for a degrowth transition," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    14. Pauliuk, Stefan, 2024. "Decent living standards, prosperity, and excessive consumption in the Lorenz curve," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    15. Corlet Walker, Christine & Druckman, Angela & Jackson, Tim, 2024. "Growth dependency in the welfare state – An analysis of drivers in the UK's adult social care sector and proposals for change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    16. Hennen, Sonja, 2022. "Concepts of justice in the degrowth debate," IPE Working Papers 179/2022, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    17. Spies-Butcher, Ben & Bryant, Gareth, 2024. "The history and future of the tax state: Possibilities for a new fiscal politics beyond neoliberalism," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    18. Fremstad, Anders & Paul, Mark, 2022. "Neoliberalism and climate change: How the free-market myth has prevented climate action," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    19. Ingmar Pastak & Anneli KÄHRIK, 2021. "SYMBOLIC DISPLACEMENT REVISITED: Place‐making Narratives in Gentrifying Neighbourhoods of Tallinn," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 814-834, September.
    20. Laura Aufrère & Philippe Eynaud & Lionel Maurel & Corinne Vercher-Chaptal, 2020. "How to conceptualize an alternative to platform capitalism according to the re-embedding process of K. Polanyi ? [Comment penser l'alternative au capitalisme de plateforme dans une logique de réenc," Working Papers hal-02536020, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:223:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924001526. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.