Localization as subpolitics: The Transition Movement and cultural citizenship

Abstract

This article seeks to critically debate the subpolitical potential of the Transition Movement. As a relatively new social movement the Transition Movement seeks to promote a genuinely engaged form of citizenship from below. This is a radical social movement that is at odds with the current neoliberal consensus. Here I look at the key aims and intellectuals associated with the movement and seek to review the idea of localization in the context of the critical literature on globalization. However by engaging in ideas of cultural citizenship and, most crucially, critical pedagogy I seek to draw attention to both the positive and negative features of the movement. In particular I review the effectiveness of the Transition Movement through notions of cultural democracy and consider the extent to which it is able to promote critical border crossing.