Introduction to the special issue: reform or revolution? What is at stake in democratic sustainability transformations

Abstract

In the face of multiple crises of ecology, economy, and social equity, the question of how to democratically transform toward a more sustainable society is high on the political agenda as well as pertinent to academic research. The first part of this introductory article to the special issue provides a brief overview of contemporary interrelated debates on sustainability, democracy, and transformation. It discusses the main concepts, themes, and questions that are part of the highly diverse and constantly evolving body of literature on the topic, as well as differences regarding analytical frames and normative underpinnings. The overview shows that the literature remains largely silent about supporting theories of change, ontologies, methodologies, and principles-and/or the ways in which transformation, sustainability, and democracy are interrelated. The second part of this article introduces the contributions to this special issue. The special issue is guided by three overarching questions: what can we say about the possibilities and problems of democratically enacting changes toward greater social, ecological, economic, and political sustainability in societies? Which analytic frames are useful for evaluating change, including its democratic and sustainability quality? Where do evaluations and judgments derive their analytical and normative legitimacy from? ARTICLE HISTORY

Power to the people? Food democracy initiatives’ contributions to democratic goods

“…This fragmentation is reflected in research on the topic, as many studies have remained limited to one or few exemplary cases, with little attention to more mundane forms of enhancing democracy (Smith 2019 ). Moreover, scholars have pointed out that, despite their post-political ambitions, many democratic innovations in practice tend to de politicize conflict (Meriluoto 2021 ), as such having system-reinforcing rather than transformative effects (Goetz et al 2020 ).These observations have resulted in calls for more systemic designs, taking the interconnections between sub-entities and governance levels into account (Owen and Smith 2015 ), as well as more comparative research designs (Ryan 2019 ). The present study contributes to the latter by providing a first comparative assessment of democratic innovations within the realm of food policy.…”

Sustainable Transitions Narratives: An Analysis of the Literature through Topic Modelling

“…[28] (p. 1) In this direction, the socio-economic perspective complements the socio-ecological perspective's focus on environmental boundaries with an attention to the economic system and to the potential for social innovation to trigger change towards more socially and environmentally beneficial economic structures i.e., to a sort of place-based "shared capitalism". Moreover, in line with [29]-in the face of multiple crises of ecology, economy, and social equity-the question of how to democratically progress toward a more sustainable society is high on the political agenda as well as pertinent to academic research. At the same time, the research design and policy spaces increasingly recognize the importance of bottom-up actions at the community scale in responding to environmental challenges.…”

Beyond Statism and Deliberation: Questioning Ecological Democracy through Eco-Anarchism and Cosmopolitics

“…In some readings, these transformations are considered to actually require overcoming capitalism and the nation-state through new forms of democratic praxis (Goetz et al 2020;Feola et al 2021). Yet, it remains to be explored which theoretical basis and practical experiences can fruitfully undergird such democratic reconfiguration (Goetz et al 2020). This paper contributes to these ongoing debates by examining how three theoretical approaches -ecological democracy, eco-anarchism and cosmopolitics -can enrich and diversify conceptualisations of democracy to inform sustainability transformation beyond capitalism and the nation-state.…”

“…What follows from such analyses is a growing awareness that deliberate sustainability transformation not only calls for democratic renewal (Pickering et al 2022), but simultaneously for fundamental reconsiderations of capitalism (Newell 2011). In some readings, these transformations are considered to actually require overcoming capitalism and the nation-state through new forms of democratic praxis (Goetz et al 2020;Feola et al 2021). Yet, it remains to be explored which theoretical basis and practical experiences can fruitfully undergird such democratic reconfiguration (Goetz et al 2020).…”