Sufficiency policy: a definition, conceptual framework, and application to municipalities

Abstract

Compared to the prevailing sustainability strategies of efficiency and consistency, sufficiency is poorly represented both in scientific literature and in political debate but has increasingly gained attention in recent years. However, the discussion lacks a uniform understanding on sufficiency policy and how to conceptualize it. Furthermore, the sufficiency scholarship neglects the role of municipalities in realizing sufficiency policies. This article, thus, examines three questions: how is sufficiency policy understood in the literature? How can sufficiency policy be conceptualized? And what does sufficiency policy mean at the municipal level? In the course of a systematic literature review, we determine a sample of 111 publications on sufficiency policy and identify an ecological, social, and action-oriented dimension of sufficiency understanding. After discussing sufficiency as policy, we synthesize our findings with a definition and conceptual framework of sufficiency policy. Last, we apply the framework at the municipal level and compile a total of 198 municipal sufficiency policy measures. We find that municipalities have numerous levers to pursue sufficiency policy, both in terms of instruments and sectors. The article presents—to our knowledge—the first systematic literature review on sufficiency policy. It advances our understanding of sufficiency as policy in general and at municipal level in particular. The conceptual framework offers a departure point for further empirical research on (municipal) sufficiency policy.