Politics and degrowth transformations

by Christos Zografos (Research & Degrowth, Barcelona)

The purpose of this text is to present some basic links between degrowth and politics, specifically the type of politics that can help achieve degrowth transformations, as those have been discussed in the relevant academic literature. The key question here is “what political action and strategies are best for degrowth transformations?” We find three main approaches: 
·         Reform the current system and act within its boundaries, press and try to convince state and society to reform. The action of concerned citizens in liberal democracies, which create deliberative arenas for conducting a meaningful dialogue between the state, private interests, and the civil society, are key for social transformations [1]. Degrowth requires a “cultural unlearning”, a shift in what we consider socially and ecologically useful; spaces where popular learning and knowledge democratisation takes place can help develop this and press the state to bring in necessary reforms [2]. 
·         Beyond classical reform, some suggest non-reformist reform [3], i.e. reforms that are incompatible with the preservation of a system, which go beyond what is possible within the current scope of a system, and pursue what should be made possible in terms of human needs and demands. Non-reformist reforms try to modify relations of power and imply structural reforms [4]. For example, a basic salary for all is seen by some as a case of non-reformist reform. 
·         Only outside capitalism and the liberal state can you pursue degrowth. For example, semi-autonomous initiatives such as non-capitalist micro- economies with inclusive decision-making that will make mainstream economy shrink and become obsolete are crucial. Initiatives such as Transition Towns and Green parties that do not seek to challenge capitalism but operate within it are problematic [5]. Also, cooperatives where small, self-managed producers who have decision autonomy look promising. Socialist models of economic organization that do not favour capital accumulation can be good contexts for pursuing degrowth through such cooperatives – although existing socialist models need to make more space for democracy [6]. 
If we look closely at those three reactions, we observe that the “what politics?” question has two dimensions: “what sort of action” is desirable and “at what scale”. Inspired by Illich and Ellul and their criticism of technology’s negative implications for democratic decision-making – including its constraints on autonomy as this may be understood through Castoriadis (i.e. technology as a sort of heteronomy) – many in degrowth favour the local level as an arena to pursue transformations. The local level is seen to allow more participation in and democratic control of decision-making, i.e. more legitimate decisions.
But can the local level really sustain itself or operate outside capitalism and liberalism? How autonomous can local level action really be within such powerful contexts? Can change at the margin really make a system obsolete? Or should we rather follow the Gaelic roots of the word slogan – given also that degrowth is, largely, a unifying slogan – which means “war cry” and “wage war” at the liberal state capitalism system that sustains and pursues growth? [7]
A note of caution: probably this does not have to be an either/or choice. Indeed, most social movements and initiatives pursue several routes, e.g. changes at the local level (or margin) and systemic ones. Nevertheless, it is also true that when it comes to dedicating political energy dilemmas often do emerge, so discussing the relative merits of each route for pursuing social transformations should be useful.
 

[1] Ott, K. (2012). Variants of de-growth and deliberative democracy: A Habermasian proposal. Futures, 44(6), 571-581.
[2] Deriu, M. (2012). Democracies with a future: Degrowth and the democratic tradition. Futures, 44(6), 553-561.
[3] Petridis, P., B. Muraca and G. Kallis, 2015. Degrowth: between a scientific concept and a slogan for a social movement. In: Handbook of Ecological Economics, J. Martinez-Alier and R. Muradian (eds.), under contract with Edward Elgar (forthcoming).
[4]Gortz (1967), in: Muraca, B. 2013. Décroissance: a project for a radical transformation of society. Environmental Values 22(2): 147–169.
[5] Trainer, T. (2012). De-growth: Do you realise what it means?. Futures, 44(6), 590-599.
[6] Boillat, S., Gerber, J. F., & Funes-Monzote, F. R. (2012). What economic democracy for degrowth? Some comments on the contribution of socialist models and Cuban agroecology. Futures, 44(6), 600-607.
[7] Cattaneo, C., D’Alisa, G., Kallis, G., & Zografos, C. (2012). Degrowth futures and democracy. Futures, 44(6), 515-523.