Abstract
Degrowth by design, not disaster. So goes the rallying cry and predicament of the eponymous movement, which is not only gaining traction through comprehensive critiques of hegemonic formations of economic growth, but also by evoking alternative imaginaries to overcome them. Nevertheless, as the costs of endless growth become ever more apparent, politicians and corporations with vested interests double-down on tossing more oil to the fire of a burning planet with increasingly authoritarian measures. While consequences of such reckless business-as-usual strategies can be felt for many already in the here and now, the odds appear to be stacked against any counter-hegemonic aspirations trying to reverse the freight train heading full speed towards disaster.
It is on this detrimental conjuncture on which the emerging degrowth movement is articulating aspirations of designing strategies towards systemic change to enable more desirable futures. Despite offering critical diagnoses of the status quo, the polyphonic discourse has thus far failed to identify and articulate strategic pathways that could bring about envisaged degrowth societies. Regen et al.’s (2022) publication is trying to alleviate this ‘strategic indeterminism’ (p. 14) by putting degrowth ideas to work in crafting avenues towards a radical emancipatory socio-ecological transformation. True to the movements’ discursive multiplicity, the book presents a timely intervention into degrowth debates, by not dwelling too much on ubiquitous reasons why a transformation is necessary, but instead focusing on the monumental question of how this may be achieved (Banerjee et al., 2021).
While encompassing nearly 400 pages, the book is neatly organised into 19 digestible chapters and divided into two overarching parts. Part one reviews the current state of degrowth strategising and theorises about a plurality of strategic avenues, while not shying away from internal disagreements about potential synergies and incompatibilities. Key to the book are Wright’s (2010, 2019) triangular modes of transformation as set out in chapter two, which provides a helpful interpretative framework familiar to the ardent degrowth reader. Along with the variously applied and extended terminology of interstitial (building democratic bottom-up alternatives), symbiotic (transforming existing institutions from within) and ruptural (direct confrontation with existing structures) modes of transformation, the reader is taken on an evolutionary journey of strategising debates within activist and academic degrowth circles.
In part two, authors are interrogating how degrowth-compatible strategies may translate into practice within a selection of key provisioning sectors, to then discuss their interdependencies with crucial political-economic aspects geared towards a systemic re-organisation. The combined scholarly-activist structure of each chapter in part two facilitates a critical self-assessment of past, present and future avenues of degrowth organising, but also opens up the debate to non-academic audiences. The book’s strength thus lies in avoiding a reproduction of prevailing academic-centric discourses and fulfils the vital strategic component of making degrowth strategies more tangible. Interestingly, the book lacks a concluding chapter and leaves it to the reader to make sense of the wide array of arguments, which may indeed be seen as an editorial invitation to join degrowth debates. Nevertheless, while providing a useful starting point and building common ground by exemplifying the breadth of what a degrowth transformation may entail, the book can only scratch the surface of the colossal task of organising for a degrowth world.
Many of the contributions in part one engage in analytical practices of mutual projection as discussed within this journal (Vandeventer and Lloveras, 2021), describing a relational mapping of degrowth as boundary object with questions of organisation and strategy. This enables a concurrent challenging and rethinking on both ends, supporting the overall ambition of advancing degrowth strategies. For instance, in the opening chapter, the origins of the concept of strategy with connotations around hierarchical chains of command along militaristic and managerial lines are contrasted with the plurality and horizontality seen as essential for the degrowth movement (Regen et al., 2022). The authors effectively maintain degrowth strategy as a ‘flexible mental map’ (p. 19), allowing open and deliberate strategising processes to build the organisational capacities of the degrowth movement, while not losing sight of the uncertainties and complexities this may entail. Such mutual projections provide fertile ground for conversations around the movements’ internal organisation, for example, by contemplating a degrowth international (Chapter 5), alliances with other socio-ecological movements (Chapter 6), the pro and cons of explicit and implicit usage of degrowth ideas within a ‘mosaic of alternatives’ (p. 130) or through ‘strategic entanglements’ (Chapter 10).
However, as of yet, analytical debates appear compromised on the dilemma of how the dispersed, horizontally-driven and prefigurative political ethos of degrowth may work in a productive coalescence with more concerted, intentional and forceful counter-hegemonic politics. Thus, some acknowledge the ‘large doses of ingenuity’ (p. 168) it would take to alter power relations by uniting diverse political strategies, while tensions frequently surface between, for example, ‘classical left/Marxist currents and more anarchic strands [. . .] cutting across the degrowth community’ (p. 96). Accordingly, degrowth often appears to be employed as a multiple, yet coherent enough construct (Vandeventer and Lloveras, 2021) with a unifying set of underlying principles, such as ‘autonomy, care, conviviality, democracy, and equity’ (p. 21) understood to guide the means of strategic processes. However, such principles are often merely pointed towards, rather than being perceived as contingent, necessitating ongoing struggle and debate within movements in various strategic contexts (Böhm et al., 2010). Future investigations could thus focus on how degrowth principles may be enacted or contradicted, and crucially, in what ways forms of strategic organising may need to be challenged, rethought and concretised accordingly. While the underlying presumption of the book suggests the strength of degrowth lies in a synthesis of left factionalism, more work thus needs to be done on reflecting on (in)formal organisational structures and potential platforms that may facilitate degrowth values while maintaining its multiplicity.
While many strategies in practice lie at a crossroads of applying a mix of transformative modes, privileging state institutions as important battlegrounds for taming and dismantling capitalism appears to be a salient feature within presented cases. Given Wright’s emphasis on the coordinative role of the state (Alakavuklar, 2022), it may not come as a surprise that non-reformist reforms along degrowth lines, understood as opening up possibilities for radical change, appear endemic. It also appears to confirm earlier studies arguing that most degrowth proposals thus far argue for national top-down approaches (Cosme et al., 2017), despite the emphasis within the movement on viewing interstitial modes as a strategic ‘basis’ for bottom-up transformative action (Regen et al., 2022: 58). Given that ‘institutional responses [. . .] from those in power are not enough’ (Regen et al., 2022: 9) and that transformative strategies are necessarily contingent on each other, some readers may thus be inclined to question the privileged tendency towards social democratic traditions. Thus, discussions should be intensified about potential enactments, (mis)uses and the cultivation of degrowth ideas in organised contexts that both oppose hegemonic formations of growth and propose alternatives to it. This includes, as of yet underrepresented conversations on and with existing alternative organisations struggling within and against a growth-based system, as much as discussions on how organised violence of corporations may be confronted more effectively (Chertkovskaya and Paulsson, 2021).
Overall, the book offers much food for thought, not least because of its potential for a reconfiguration of longstanding conceptual ties between unreflective ideas on organising and strategising for growth (Banerjee et al., 2020). Even more so, it may breathe fresh air into the dusty conceptual halls of much organisational research seemingly stuck within unsuccessful win-win attempts or solely micro-level-oriented analyses. Instead, this book helps us to think beyond our limited conceptual lenses, methods and units of analysis to join debates on how to strategise and organise for a liveable future for all independent from hegemonic formations of growth.
