of ecological economists and behavioral economists. They place their chief
emphasis on understanding the emergence and perpetuation of capitalist economic
path dependencies that keep on pushing SETSs out of sustainable development
paths (Göpel 2016). Political economists tend to reject win–win narratives and
argue that both transformational changes and the status quo involve winners and
losers, and that these should be exposed.
Thus, while all researchers foresee that transition or transformation will involve
discontinuities in the current systemic setups and dynamics, their notions of where
transformational changes originate differ. The typical terms for explanations thus also
differ: ‘diffusing technologies’ or ‘disruptive innovations’ tend to be socio-technical
terms, ‘feedback loops’ or ‘tipping points’ stem from a socio-ecological view, and
political economists speak about ‘struggles’ and ‘structural crises.’
Some scholars explicitly prefer the term ‘transformation’ to the evolutionary
term ‘transition’ because it makes the conflicting aspects of change more clear. But
when it comes to defining what constitutes a transition versus what constitutes a
transformation, the quotes above demonstrate that there is not much difference.
Here, I use the terms interchangeably and wish to map the commonalities rather
than the differences between the camps. Each of the three larger studies reviewed
here can be roughly grouped into one of the camps. My own bias in what I select
will be that of an environmentally aware political economist who appreciates the
potential of technological breakthroughs.
Given its conceptual leadership in the field, I start by reviewing the 2010 book
Transitions to Sustainable Development: New Directions in the Study of Long Term
Transformative Change edited by John Grin, Jan Rotmans and Johan Schot. It was
the first conceptual milestone of the STRN network mentioned above. This network
and its annual International Sustainability Transitions conferences have been the
epistemic community development locus for the STS camp.
Its work has influenced my second example: the SES-driven WBGU and its 2011
flagship report to the German chancellor, the transition viewpoint of which is cited
above. Here the starting point is less an understanding of transitions as such and more
the avoidance of disastrous climate change (one important Planetary Boundary),
which is deemed only possible with a great transition. To this end the report has a set
of recommendations for policy and science at its core. The Stockholm Resilience
Centre cited above is a strong convening player of this camp; the biannual
Transformations and Resilience conferences are key exchange platforms.
The third study I will examine was published in 2002 as the outcome of longer
discussions of the Global Scenario Group convened by the Stockholm Environment
Institute and the Tellus Institute in the 1990s. The report, Great Transition: The
Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead defines transitions as “complex junctures, in
which the entire cultural matrix and the relationship of humanity to nature are
transformed” (Raskin et.al. 2002: 3). It states that the world is in transition to a
planetary phase and sketches six possible development pathways for the future that
combine narratives with quantitative data. The scenarios differ according to the
degree of change in human values, paradigmatic thinking and therefore policies
2.1 Digging into Societal Transformation and System Innovation Research
19
emphasis on understanding the emergence and perpetuation of capitalist economic
path dependencies that keep on pushing SETSs out of sustainable development
paths (Göpel 2016). Political economists tend to reject win–win narratives and
argue that both transformational changes and the status quo involve winners and
losers, and that these should be exposed.
Thus, while all researchers foresee that transition or transformation will involve
discontinuities in the current systemic setups and dynamics, their notions of where
transformational changes originate differ. The typical terms for explanations thus also
differ: ‘diffusing technologies’ or ‘disruptive innovations’ tend to be socio-technical
terms, ‘feedback loops’ or ‘tipping points’ stem from a socio-ecological view, and
political economists speak about ‘struggles’ and ‘structural crises.’
Some scholars explicitly prefer the term ‘transformation’ to the evolutionary
term ‘transition’ because it makes the conflicting aspects of change more clear. But
when it comes to defining what constitutes a transition versus what constitutes a
transformation, the quotes above demonstrate that there is not much difference.
Here, I use the terms interchangeably and wish to map the commonalities rather
than the differences between the camps. Each of the three larger studies reviewed
here can be roughly grouped into one of the camps. My own bias in what I select
will be that of an environmentally aware political economist who appreciates the
potential of technological breakthroughs.
Given its conceptual leadership in the field, I start by reviewing the 2010 book
Transitions to Sustainable Development: New Directions in the Study of Long Term
Transformative Change edited by John Grin, Jan Rotmans and Johan Schot. It was
the first conceptual milestone of the STRN network mentioned above. This network
and its annual International Sustainability Transitions conferences have been the
epistemic community development locus for the STS camp.
Its work has influenced my second example: the SES-driven WBGU and its 2011
flagship report to the German chancellor, the transition viewpoint of which is cited
above. Here the starting point is less an understanding of transitions as such and more
the avoidance of disastrous climate change (one important Planetary Boundary),
which is deemed only possible with a great transition. To this end the report has a set
of recommendations for policy and science at its core. The Stockholm Resilience
Centre cited above is a strong convening player of this camp; the biannual
Transformations and Resilience conferences are key exchange platforms.
The third study I will examine was published in 2002 as the outcome of longer
discussions of the Global Scenario Group convened by the Stockholm Environment
Institute and the Tellus Institute in the 1990s. The report, Great Transition: The
Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead defines transitions as “complex junctures, in
which the entire cultural matrix and the relationship of humanity to nature are
transformed” (Raskin et.al. 2002: 3). It states that the world is in transition to a
planetary phase and sketches six possible development pathways for the future that
combine narratives with quantitative data. The scenarios differ according to the
degree of change in human values, paradigmatic thinking and therefore policies
2.1 Digging into Societal Transformation and System Innovation Research
19