(a group in itself). By sharing best practice, experiences in implementation and
also difficulties, this community of practice can also identify common political
interests and start advocating and acting jointly for overarching system change
(a group for itself). The latter can also be done and supported by people who are
not directly part of the pioneering practice but share their purpose and worldview and would like such solutions to spread.
• I also found it intriguing to check for similarities across sectors and, due to
language barriers, found that easier than a proper cross-cultural assessment of,
say, multiple business networks. I am aware that this has led to a set of examples
that is both somewhat eurocentric and confined to those with a good internet
presence, which made them easier to research.
This is how the Economy for the Common Good (a prominent business initiative
in Germany and Austria), Transition Towns (an urban community initiative born in
the United Kingdom), and the Commoning movement (a civil society initiative
spanning the Atlantic between the United States and Europe) were chosen. Only in
the context of government initiatives around ‘Beyond GDP’ was I lucky enough to
visit the pioneering nation of Bhutan, whose Gross National Happiness or GNH
framework is referenced by many.
In the Multilevel-Perspective on societal change presented in Fig. 2.1, the first
three examples of Economy of the Common Good businesses, Transition Towns
and Commoning initiatives would count as pioneers at the niche level. The last
example of a national government strategy, the GNH Framework of Bhutan and its
policy commission, would be a pioneer at the regime level, leading change from
within the overarching structurations.
Of course such a short summary in a book has to be very selective. It cannot do
justice to a proper summary of what exactly is happening in each initiative. So the
most important focal point for the exploration has been the identification of some
crucial paradigmatic differences to the mainstream concepts I presented in Chap. 3.
I was surprised by the degree of commonality between the four cases in this.
I have summarized their radically new purpose as one of recoupling economic
processes with human well-being and nature’s reproductive laws. Since all of them
confront strong path dependencies in the overarching and surrounding systems—
and also partly in their own—their incremental change strategies are ones of successive double-decoupling:
1. Decouple the production of goods and services from unsustainable, wasteful or
uncaring treatment of humans, nature and animals (do better).
2. Decouple the satisfaction of human needs from the imperative to deliver ever
more economic output (do well).
The summary details core findings in juxtaposition to the mainstream economic
development paradigm.
Another shortcoming of any desktop assessment in comparison to proper field
research is the degree of informed critical discussion that is possible. Here, it is
limited to a recapitulation of the most prominent critical voices found on the web.
4 Mapping an Emerging New Economic Paradigm in Practice
121
also difficulties, this community of practice can also identify common political
interests and start advocating and acting jointly for overarching system change
(a group for itself). The latter can also be done and supported by people who are
not directly part of the pioneering practice but share their purpose and worldview and would like such solutions to spread.
• I also found it intriguing to check for similarities across sectors and, due to
language barriers, found that easier than a proper cross-cultural assessment of,
say, multiple business networks. I am aware that this has led to a set of examples
that is both somewhat eurocentric and confined to those with a good internet
presence, which made them easier to research.
This is how the Economy for the Common Good (a prominent business initiative
in Germany and Austria), Transition Towns (an urban community initiative born in
the United Kingdom), and the Commoning movement (a civil society initiative
spanning the Atlantic between the United States and Europe) were chosen. Only in
the context of government initiatives around ‘Beyond GDP’ was I lucky enough to
visit the pioneering nation of Bhutan, whose Gross National Happiness or GNH
framework is referenced by many.
In the Multilevel-Perspective on societal change presented in Fig. 2.1, the first
three examples of Economy of the Common Good businesses, Transition Towns
and Commoning initiatives would count as pioneers at the niche level. The last
example of a national government strategy, the GNH Framework of Bhutan and its
policy commission, would be a pioneer at the regime level, leading change from
within the overarching structurations.
Of course such a short summary in a book has to be very selective. It cannot do
justice to a proper summary of what exactly is happening in each initiative. So the
most important focal point for the exploration has been the identification of some
crucial paradigmatic differences to the mainstream concepts I presented in Chap. 3.
I was surprised by the degree of commonality between the four cases in this.
I have summarized their radically new purpose as one of recoupling economic
processes with human well-being and nature’s reproductive laws. Since all of them
confront strong path dependencies in the overarching and surrounding systems—
and also partly in their own—their incremental change strategies are ones of successive double-decoupling:
1. Decouple the production of goods and services from unsustainable, wasteful or
uncaring treatment of humans, nature and animals (do better).
2. Decouple the satisfaction of human needs from the imperative to deliver ever
more economic output (do well).
The summary details core findings in juxtaposition to the mainstream economic
development paradigm.
Another shortcoming of any desktop assessment in comparison to proper field
research is the degree of informed critical discussion that is possible. Here, it is
limited to a recapitulation of the most prominent critical voices found on the web.
4 Mapping an Emerging New Economic Paradigm in Practice
121