The governance of sustainable socio-technical transitions
TL;DR: In this paper, a quasi-evolutionary model of socio-technical transitions is described in which regimes face selection pressures continuously and differentiated transition contexts determine the form and direction of regime change in response to these pressures.
About: This article is published in Research Policy.The article was published on 2005-12-01. It has received 1898 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Regime change & Transition management (governance).
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TL;DR: In this paper, a typology of four transition pathways: transformation, reconfiguration, technological substitution, and de-alignment and re-alignments is presented, which differ in combinations of timing and nature of multi-level interactions.
3,926 citations
Cites background from "The governance of sustainable socio..."
...We agree with Smith et al. (2005) that a more differentiated understanding of transitions is needed....
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...Smith et al. (2005) understand regime change to be a function of two processes: (1) shifting selection pressures on the regime, (2) the coordination of resources available inside and outside the regime to adapt to these pressures....
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...Our transition pathway typology deviates from Smith et al. (2005), which we briefly present below....
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...These external landscape developments do not mechanically impact niches and regimes, but need to be perceived and translated by actors to exert influence (see also Smith et al., 2005)....
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...So, like Smith et al. (2005), we argue that the conjuncture of multiple developments is important....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify the intellectual contours of this emerging field by conducting a review of basic conceptual frameworks, together with bibliographical analysis of 540 journal articles in the field.
2,406 citations
TL;DR: The multi-level perspective (MLP) has emerged as a fruitful middle-range framework for analysing socio-technical transitions to sustainability as discussed by the authors. But the MLP also received constructive criticisms.
Abstract: The multi-level perspective (MLP) has emerged as a fruitful middle-range framework for analysing socio-technical transitions to sustainability. The MLP also received constructive criticisms. This paper summarises seven criticisms, formulates responses to them, and translates these into suggestions for future research. The criticisms relate to: (1) lack of agency, (2) operationalization of regimes, (3) bias towards bottom-up change models, (4) epistemology and explanatory style, (5) methodology, (6) socio-technical landscape as residual category, and (7) flat ontologies versus hierarchical levels.
1,976 citations
Cites background from "The governance of sustainable socio..."
...First, sustainability transitions are goal-oriented or ‘purposive’ (Smith et al., 2005) in the sense of addressing persistent environmental problems, whereas many historical transitions were ‘emergent’ (e.g. entrepreneurs exploring commercial opportunities related to new technologies)....
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...Smith et al. (2005) find it “too descriptive and structural, leaving room for greater analysis of agency” (p. 1492)....
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...Another criticism is that socio-technical regimes are often presented as too homogeneous or monolithic (Smith et al., 2005)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reflect on what seems to be a yawning gulf between the potential contribution of the social sciences and the typically restricted models and assumptions and present a short and deliberately provocative paper.
Abstract: In this short and deliberately provocative paper I reflect on what seems to be a yawning gulf between the potential contribution of the social sciences and the typically restricted models and conce...
1,944 citations
Cites background from "The governance of sustainable socio..."
...…are also reasons to celebrate the intellectual space which the transitions-management literature (Kemp and Loorbach, 2006; Rotmans et al, 2001; Smith et al, 2005) has created and to exploit the room it makes for thinking seriously and systemically about how environmentally problematic ways of…...
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a framework for understanding and supporting efforts aimed at "responsibly innovation" in emerging science and innovation, which is a major challenge for contemporary democracies.
1,826 citations
Cites background from "The governance of sustainable socio..."
...…2002; rove-White et al., 1997; Macnaghten and Szerszynski, 2013; tilgoe, 2011), joining a stream of policy debate about the direcions of innovation (Smith et al., 2005; Stirling, 2008; Morlacchi nd Martin, 2009; Fisher et al., 2006; Flanagan et al., 2011). et, despite efforts at enlarging…...
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References
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Book•
01 Jan 1990TL;DR: Douglass C. North as discussed by the authors developed an analytical framework for explaining the ways in which institutions and institutional change affect the performance of economies, both at a given time and over time.
Abstract: Continuing his groundbreaking analysis of economic structures, Douglass North develops an analytical framework for explaining the ways in which institutions and institutional change affect the performance of economies, both at a given time and over time. Institutions exist, he argues, due to the uncertainties involved in human interaction; they are the constraints devised to structure that interaction. Yet, institutions vary widely in their consequences for economic performance; some economies develop institutions that produce growth and development, while others develop institutions that produce stagnation. North first explores the nature of institutions and explains the role of transaction and production costs in their development. The second part of the book deals with institutional change. Institutions create the incentive structure in an economy, and organisations will be created to take advantage of the opportunities provided within a given institutional framework. North argues that the kinds of skills and knowledge fostered by the structure of an economy will shape the direction of change and gradually alter the institutional framework. He then explains how institutional development may lead to a path-dependent pattern of development. In the final part of the book, North explains the implications of this analysis for economic theory and economic history. He indicates how institutional analysis must be incorporated into neo-classical theory and explores the potential for the construction of a dynamic theory of long-term economic change. Douglass C. North is Director of the Center of Political Economy and Professor of Economics and History at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a past president of the Economic History Association and Western Economics Association and a Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has written over sixty articles for a variety of journals and is the author of The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History (CUP, 1973, with R.P. Thomas) and Structure and Change in Economic History (Norton, 1981). Professor North is included in Great Economists Since Keynes edited by M. Blaug (CUP, 1988 paperback ed.)
27,080 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the role that institutions, defined as the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction, play in economic performance and how those institutions change and how a model of dynamic institutions explains the differential performance of economies through time.
Abstract: Examines the role that institutions, defined as the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction, play in economic performance and how those institutions change and how a model of dynamic institutions explains the differential performance of economies through time. Institutions are separate from organizations, which are assemblages of people directed to strategically operating within institutional constraints. Institutions affect the economy by influencing, together with technology, transaction and production costs. They do this by reducing uncertainty in human interaction, albeit not always efficiently. Entrepreneurs accomplish incremental changes in institutions by perceiving opportunities to do better through altering the institutional framework of political and economic organizations. Importantly, the ability to perceive these opportunities depends on both the completeness of information and the mental constructs used to process that information. Thus, institutions and entrepreneurs stand in a symbiotic relationship where each gives feedback to the other. Neoclassical economics suggests that inefficient institutions ought to be rapidly replaced. This symbiotic relationship helps explain why this theoretical consequence is often not observed: while this relationship allows growth, it also allows inefficient institutions to persist. The author identifies changes in relative prices and prevailing ideas as the source of institutional alterations. Transaction costs, however, may keep relative price changes from being fully exploited. Transaction costs are influenced by institutions and institutional development is accordingly path-dependent. (CAR)
26,011 citations
TL;DR: Giddens as mentioned in this paper has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade and outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form.
Abstract: Anthony Giddens has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade. In "The Constitution of Society" he outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form. A particular feature is Giddens' concern to connect abstract problems of theory to an interpretation of the nature of empirical method in the social sciences. In presenting his own ideas, Giddens mounts a critical attack on some of the more orthodox sociological views. "The Constitution of Society" is an invaluable reference book for all those concerned with the basic issues in contemporary social theory.
16,208 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1984
TL;DR: Giddens as discussed by the authors has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade and outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form.
Abstract: Anthony Giddens has been in the forefront of developments in social theory for the past decade. In "The Constitution of Society" he outlines the distinctive position he has evolved during that period and offers a full statement of a major new perspective in social thought, a synthesis and elaboration of ideas touched on in previous works but described here for the first time in an integrated and comprehensive form. A particular feature is Giddens' concern to connect abstract problems of theory to an interpretation of the nature of empirical method in the social sciences. In presenting his own ideas, Giddens mounts a critical attack on some of the more orthodox sociological views. "The Constitution of Society" is an invaluable reference book for all those concerned with the basic issues in contemporary social theory.
13,552 citations
Book•
01 Dec 1982TL;DR: A modification of the theory of games, a branch of mathematics first formulated by Von Neumann and Morgenstern in 1944 for the analysis of human conflicts, was proposed in this paper.
Abstract: I want in this article to trace the history of an idea. It is beginning to become clear that a range of problems in evolution theory can most appropriately be attacked by a modification of the theory of games, a branch of mathematics first formulated by Von Neumann and Morgenstern in 1944 for the analysis of human conflicts. The problems are diverse and include not only the behaviour of animals in contest situations but also some problems in the evolution of genetic mechanisms and in the evolution of ecosystems. It is not, however, sufficient to take over the theory as it has been developed in sociology and apply it to evolution. In sociology, and in economics, it is supposed that each contestant works out by reasoning the best strategy to adopt, assuming that his opponents are equally guided by reason. This leads to the concept of a ‘minimax’ strategy, in which a contestant behaves in such a way as to minimise his losses on the assumption that his opponent behaves so as to maximise them. Clearly, this would not be a valid approach to animal conflicts. A new concept has to be introduced, the concept of an ‘evolutionary stable strategy’.
8,276 citations