Degrowth & Strategy: A Critique and Ways Forward

Abstract

Degrowth has been at the centre of ecological economics since the days of its inception. Recently, degrowth scholarship and practice have turned to questions of strategy. This long-neglected debate on degrowth & strategy is essential to develop a solid theory of social-ecological-economic political change. Locating my approach at the interface of cultural political economy and ecological economics, I seek to critically contribute to these recent debates on degrowth & strategy. In so doing, this paper promotes a dialectical approach to degrowth and identifies three areas that currently hamper successful strategising: a rejection of hegemony, a focus on similar values in building alliances, and the primacy of bottom-up organising.

Keywords: Ecological economics, Degrowth, strategy, hegemony, human needs, integral state