Exploring the functions of place-based intermediation in the governance of sustainability transitions
In: Environmental innovation and societal transitions, Band 52, S. 100869
ISSN: 2210-4224
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In: Environmental innovation and societal transitions, Band 52, S. 100869
ISSN: 2210-4224
In: Research Policy, Band 50, Heft 3, S. 104183
In: Kok , K P W , Loeber , A M C & Grin , J 2021 , ' Politics of complexity : Conceptualizing agency, power and powering in the transitional dynamics of complex adaptive systems ' , Research Policy , vol. 50 , no. 3 , 104183 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2020.104183
This paper seeks to bridge the gap between socio-material and complex adaptive systems approaches in conceptualizing the politics of transformation. Our contribution in particular is a further clarification of the relational nature of power, and the role of non-humans in transitional dynamics of complex adaptive systems. We explore and operationalize the role of non-humans and relationality in (1) agency and (2) power, and the implications thereof for processes of (3) powering, through which power relations shape resource distributions and associated macro-scale dynamics. We consider agency as an embedded and temporal capacity for reorientation. This also entails attributing agency to entangled networks of humans and non-humans. Such a capacitive conception of agency follows from our understanding that agents and structures consist of comparable ontological building blocks, both being (networks of) components in complex adaptive systems. Power we understand as a productive and relational phenomenon that emerges from interactions between components and that structures their agency. We argue that such a 'force-field' understanding of power enables the observation of different types of power relations. Finally, we consider six different mechanisms through which power relations can result in a (re)distribution of resources and with that, contribute to self-reproducing or transformative systemic dynamics. With this conceptualization, we hope to advance the debate on the different facets of the politics of transformation, and to help further urgently needed transitions towards a more sustainable future.
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In: Environmental innovation and societal transitions, Band 43, S. 393-407
ISSN: 2210-4224