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Academic Special Session: Towards a political economy of degrowth

Highlights of degrowth research. Book presentation

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This session is devoted to presenting and discussing 'Towards a political economy of degrowth' – an edited collection forthcoming in Rowman & Littlefield in 2019. The book will be presented by the editors and the authors, followed by a general discussion.

Towards a Political Economy of Degrowth
EDITED BY EKATERINA CHERTKOVSKAYA; ALEXANDER PAULSSON AND STEFANIA BARCA
Since the 1970s, the degrowth idea has been proposed by scholars, public intellectuals and activists as a powerful call to reject the obsession of neoliberal capitalism with economic growth, an obsession which continues apace despite the global ecological crisis and rising inequalities. In the past decade, degrowth has gained momentum and become an umbrella term for various social movements which strive for ecologically sustainable and socially just alternatives that would transform the world we live in.

How to move forward in an informed way, without reproducing the existing hierarchies and injustices? How not to end up in a situation when ecological sustainability is the prerogative of the privileged, direct democracy is ignorant of environmental issues, and localisation of production is xenophobic? These are some of the questions that have inspired this edited collection.

Bringing degrowth into dialogue with critical social theories, covering previously unexplored geographical contexts and discussing some of the most contested concepts in degrowth, the book hints at informed paths towards socio-ecological transformation.