Periodic Reporting for period 1 - REAL (A Post Growth Deal)
Reporting period: 2023-05-01 to 2024-10-31
The global economy is driving dangerous climate breakdown and overshooting multiple planetary boundaries. At the same time, large portions of the human population remain unable to meet basic needs. We asked:
How can we achieve rapid emissions reductions and bring resource use back to sustainable levels while at the same time ending poverty and ensuring good lives for all?
Our research project aims to fill a large social science gap, between the empirical and quantitative imperative to remain within planetary boundaries, and the policy-provision-politics configurations that would enable our societies to change course while prioritising human wellbeing. Within the project, we identify core elements of research essential to bridging post-growth trajectories with real-world feasibility.
Our focus areas include inter- and intra-national inequalities, trade relations and unequal exchange, labour and wellbeing, existing examples of post-growth, and economic democracy.
REAL objectives
1 Propose just and equitable pathways to reduce material and energy use, to bring societies within planetary boundaries.
2 Provide a toolkit of policies that can maintain and improve wellbeing in a post-growth context, and achieve North-South convergence.
3 Develop pathways and policies for democratising provisioning systems.
4 Assess models of political organising to mobilise towards post-growth deals.
5 Bridge the gap between post-growth theory and implementation, through dialogues & decision-making processes, from the international to the local level.
The REAL project consists of multiple tasks organised into 5 thematic work-packages (see Table 1). The REAL project PIs are involved in all of these work-packages, with Jason Hickel leading on Policies, Julia Steinberger on Provisioning, and Giorgos Kallis on Politics.
Phase 1: Establishing Post-growth Paradigm Phase 2: Towards Transformation Phase 3: Realising Post-Growth
WP1 Planetary Possibilities
PHASE 1: 1.1 North-South convergence scenarios of resource use 1.2 Material prerequisites for decent living PHASE 2: 1.3 Labour and material footprinting 1.4 Learning from low-no growth experiences PHASE 3: 1.5 Essential and non-essential activities 1.6 Post-growth IAM scenarios.
WP2 Post-growth Policies
PHASE 1: 2.1 Mapping unequal exchange 2.2 Policy mapping PHASE 2: 2.3 Post-Growth Deals for the EU 2.4 Post-Growth Deals for the Global South PHASE 3: 2.5 Framing & feedback of policies 2.6 Model policy outcomes for policy-makers
WP3 Post-growth Provisioning
PHASE 1: 3.1 Determinants of social outcomes 3.2 Overview of provisioning alternatives PHASE 2: 3.3 Democratizing provision alternatives 3.4 Interactive Model of Alternative Provision PHASE 3: 3.5 Feedback from Model of Alternative Provision 3.6 Model of transformation in provision
WP4 Post-growth Politics
PHASE 1: 4.1 Movement politics 4.2 Institutional/party politics PHASE 2: 4.3 Geo-politics of post-growth 4.4 Post-growth in rural peripheral areas PHASE 3: 4.5 Models of political organizing 4.6 Leverage points
WP5 Post-growth In Practice
PHASE 1: 5.1 Post-growth framework and principle 5.2 Preparation of local processes PHASE 2: 5.3 Planning Action Processes 5.4 Execution PHASE 3: 5.5 Prototyping 5.6 Comparison/synthesis
How can we achieve rapid emissions reductions and bring resource use back to sustainable levels while at the same time ending poverty and ensuring good lives for all?
Our research project aims to fill a large social science gap, between the empirical and quantitative imperative to remain within planetary boundaries, and the policy-provision-politics configurations that would enable our societies to change course while prioritising human wellbeing. Within the project, we identify core elements of research essential to bridging post-growth trajectories with real-world feasibility.
Our focus areas include inter- and intra-national inequalities, trade relations and unequal exchange, labour and wellbeing, existing examples of post-growth, and economic democracy.
REAL objectives
1 Propose just and equitable pathways to reduce material and energy use, to bring societies within planetary boundaries.
2 Provide a toolkit of policies that can maintain and improve wellbeing in a post-growth context, and achieve North-South convergence.
3 Develop pathways and policies for democratising provisioning systems.
4 Assess models of political organising to mobilise towards post-growth deals.
5 Bridge the gap between post-growth theory and implementation, through dialogues & decision-making processes, from the international to the local level.
The REAL project consists of multiple tasks organised into 5 thematic work-packages (see Table 1). The REAL project PIs are involved in all of these work-packages, with Jason Hickel leading on Policies, Julia Steinberger on Provisioning, and Giorgos Kallis on Politics.
Phase 1: Establishing Post-growth Paradigm Phase 2: Towards Transformation Phase 3: Realising Post-Growth
WP1 Planetary Possibilities
PHASE 1: 1.1 North-South convergence scenarios of resource use 1.2 Material prerequisites for decent living PHASE 2: 1.3 Labour and material footprinting 1.4 Learning from low-no growth experiences PHASE 3: 1.5 Essential and non-essential activities 1.6 Post-growth IAM scenarios.
WP2 Post-growth Policies
PHASE 1: 2.1 Mapping unequal exchange 2.2 Policy mapping PHASE 2: 2.3 Post-Growth Deals for the EU 2.4 Post-Growth Deals for the Global South PHASE 3: 2.5 Framing & feedback of policies 2.6 Model policy outcomes for policy-makers
WP3 Post-growth Provisioning
PHASE 1: 3.1 Determinants of social outcomes 3.2 Overview of provisioning alternatives PHASE 2: 3.3 Democratizing provision alternatives 3.4 Interactive Model of Alternative Provision PHASE 3: 3.5 Feedback from Model of Alternative Provision 3.6 Model of transformation in provision
WP4 Post-growth Politics
PHASE 1: 4.1 Movement politics 4.2 Institutional/party politics PHASE 2: 4.3 Geo-politics of post-growth 4.4 Post-growth in rural peripheral areas PHASE 3: 4.5 Models of political organizing 4.6 Leverage points
WP5 Post-growth In Practice
PHASE 1: 5.1 Post-growth framework and principle 5.2 Preparation of local processes PHASE 2: 5.3 Planning Action Processes 5.4 Execution PHASE 3: 5.5 Prototyping 5.6 Comparison/synthesis
The research team under PI Kallis focussed on developing two main research lines. First, a study of political eco-social transformations. And second, a study of real-existing degrowth territories and practices.
In terms of ecosocial transformations, research has focussed first on conceptual development, the goal being the establishment of a theoretical framework for classifying and analysing ecosocial strategies and dynamics of change; second, on empirical research design to study specific social and political movements that test, or enrich certain ideas of the conceptual framework. In terms of framework building the team has worked to synthesise elements from the theories of the commons, Erik Olin-Wright's real utopias framework, and the world-systems theory perspective. A main achievement is the construction of a new framework for ecosocial transformations, the publication of which is under away, alongside two thematic papers, one on movement, unions and party alliances, and the other on class organizing in the context of transformation. Empirically, researchers have already started doing fieldwork with municipalist movements in Catalonia, environmental direct action activists in France, land back movements in California and Indonesia, anti-extractivist movements in Turkey, and party movements in Latin America, testing various aspects of the incipient framework.
In terms of real-existing degrowth, a main achievement was the publication of a first paper from the group on the role of reclaiming tradition in the context of post growth transformations (case studies from various traditional institutions in the Iberian peninsula), and, in parallel, the development of a diagnostic framework for studying real existing degrowth.
In terms of ecosocial transformations, research has focussed first on conceptual development, the goal being the establishment of a theoretical framework for classifying and analysing ecosocial strategies and dynamics of change; second, on empirical research design to study specific social and political movements that test, or enrich certain ideas of the conceptual framework. In terms of framework building the team has worked to synthesise elements from the theories of the commons, Erik Olin-Wright's real utopias framework, and the world-systems theory perspective. A main achievement is the construction of a new framework for ecosocial transformations, the publication of which is under away, alongside two thematic papers, one on movement, unions and party alliances, and the other on class organizing in the context of transformation. Empirically, researchers have already started doing fieldwork with municipalist movements in Catalonia, environmental direct action activists in France, land back movements in California and Indonesia, anti-extractivist movements in Turkey, and party movements in Latin America, testing various aspects of the incipient framework.
In terms of real-existing degrowth, a main achievement was the publication of a first paper from the group on the role of reclaiming tradition in the context of post growth transformations (case studies from various traditional institutions in the Iberian peninsula), and, in parallel, the development of a diagnostic framework for studying real existing degrowth.
The research of the team of PI Kallis is still in its design and development phase. One early result with potential impact is the development of a diagnostic framework to analyse growth dependencies at the municipal level. The team is collaborating with the administration of the city of Girona to help test the model there, and advise decision makers on post growth policies. As part of this collaboration a toolkit is being developed for studying, identifying and strategizing (on how to break from) growth dependencies. The idea is that this toolkit could then be used by other 'post-growth cities' around Europe. A core component of the toolkit consists of processes of participation and engagement, where activists, citizens and policy makers are helped through facilitated focus groups to make their own sense of the growth dependencies within which their administration and cities are entangled and identify leverage points through which change beyond growth dependence could be catalyzed.