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What about the politics? Sustainable development, transition management, and long term energy transitions

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Abstract

This article is concerned with governance of long term socio-technical transitions required to orient development trajectories of advanced industrial counties along more sustainable lines. It discusses the contribution that ‘transition management’ can make to such processes, emphasizes the irreducibly political character of governance for sustainable development, and suggests that the long-term transformation of energy systems will prove to be a messy, conflictual, and highly disjointed process.

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Notes

  1. But for an alternative presentation that refers to ‘the electric society’, the ‘hydrogen society’, and a ‘decentralized energy system’ see Kemp and Loorbach 2003.

  2. In this section, I draw on the argument developed in Meadowcroft and Hellin (2007).

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  1. School of Public Policy, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada

    James Meadowcroft

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  1. James Meadowcroft
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Meadowcroft, J. What about the politics? Sustainable development, transition management, and long term energy transitions. Policy Sci 42, 323–340 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-009-9097-z

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