This research’s aim is to create a stronger connection between the degrowth movement’s proposals and the social entrepreneurial environment in Skåne. This topic was explored through two different methods. Firstly, the relevant literature was brought together to the end of creating a framework for understanding what the implications for social enterprises that intend to transition towards a post-growth economy would be. The framework created consists in four different criteria blocks: sustainable practices, focus on growth, organizational structures and collaboration. The framework created allowed the research to develop further and identify the obstacles to their implementations of the degrowth criteria met by the social entrepreneurs in the Skåne Region (Sweden). After having conducted four interviews with secondary social enterprises (accelerators, incubators and other hubs) and six interviews with social entrepreneurs working in the region, the research was able to identify several different obstacles. Divergent views and approaches to sustainability, a current necessary focus on profit maximization, difficulties of managing non-hierarchical organizations and other obstacles regarding collaboration practices were identified throughout the data analysis.Despite the many obstacles identified throughout the research, there was an interest and understanding present of the necessity to shift towards a more sustainable economic system, meaning an opportunity for researchers to further study this subject and possibly find ways toovercome the obstacles identified.

Degrowth is an emerging field of research and a social movement founded on the premise that perpetual economic growth is incompatible with the biophysical limits of our finite planet (D’Alisa, Demaria & Kallis, 2014a; Asara, Otero, Demaria & Corbera, 2015). Despite the important work that degrowth scholars and activists have done to broadcast the fundamental contradiction between endless compound growth and a finite resource base, degrowth remains politically marginal, having received little mainstream attention or policy uptake. This thesis explores why. In particular, I examine barriers to and pathways towards the uptake of degrowth in Canada, a country that disproportionately contributes to climate breakdown. To do so I ask: 1) What barriers exist to advancing a degrowth agenda in Canada?; 2) How specifically do those barriers block degrowth from taking hold in contemporary Canadian policy and political discourse?; 3) How (if at all) are Canadian activists seeking to address these barriers? This research reveals that the political economy in Canada, and the way that is expressed in concentrations of elite and corporate power has given certain actors, particularly the fossil fuel industry, immense economic and political power. These concentrations of power, and the ways they are maintained reinforce a politics and discourse that is highly antithetical to the politics of degrowth, and thus serve as a major barrier to the emergence of degrowth. I argue, in order to move towards a degrowth politics, the hegemony of fossil capitalism in Canada, and the specific class interests that support it needs to be challenged. While degrowth has a strong critique of economic growth and capitalism, this alone is not enough. Any movement towards degrowth will require transforming power relations. This means continuing to explore the concrete ways specific institutions continue to create the political economic conditions that support fossil fueled growth as its main priority, and prioritizing building broad based movements to counter them. / Graduate

The aim of master thesis Degrowth as an Alternative of Sustainable Development? is a comparison of two complex concepts, sustainable development and degrowth, which both try to reach sustainable human existence within environmental limits of our planet. The first part of this thesis consist of literature research investigating consequences of our reliance on economic growth and two chapters in which I try to cover main features of both concepts. In second part I compare degrowth and sustainable development and summarize my findings and conclusions. Methodology of this theoretical thesis is based on hermeneutics and grounded theory.

No / Our aim in this article is to articulate and consider a number of questions concerning the future purpose, scope, and practice of peace studies. Our premise, set out in the first section, is that the current era of growth and globalisation will necessarily give way to some degree of social and economic contraction, as the limits to growth implied by the interacting forces of ecological change and resource dependency are encountered. Against this background, we suggest that ‘peaceful adaptation’ could be an appropriate concept to guide consideration of and responses to future challenges associated with building more sustainable forms of society in a context of ‘less’. The remainder of the paper works through a series of questions regarding the meaning of ‘peaceful adaptation', and the potential roles of peace researchers and educators, taking into account the need for peace studies not only to study and contribute to adaptation processes, but to also to respond to the prospect that current systems for knowledge production, dissemination and maintenance may themselves be vulnerable. In each section, we point to examples of existing work that provide promising starting points for engagement, but also highlight some issues and questions that need further attention, especially from the more normative standpoint(s) of ‘peace’.

The Swedish breakfast is an ordinary thing. It usually consists of a bowl of ‘filmjölk’, a sandwich with butter and cheese, and a cup of coffee with milk. This nostalgic composition is routinely consumed at kitchen tables around Sweden, every morning, before the daily commute to work. Most of us consume at least one of these dairy products on a daily basis without thinking about how they arrived at our kitchen table The commercialisation of the food industry in the 20th century led to a commodification of dairy products. Through heavy marketing, dairy producers, with the goal of increasing their own profit, were able to infiltrate Swedish homes and increase their dairy consumption. Milk went from being a small scale, domestically produced and consumed food, to receiving a political status as a part of ‘folkhemmet’. Consumption of dairy products was encouraged as a way of building the Swedish welfare state (Martiin, 2024, 227-230). The Swedish breakfast was commodified. Food and shelter are two of the most basic human needs, and are inevitably affecting all of our lives. However, the environmental implications of how food is produced, sold, and consumed, as well as the impact of our domestic lives can no longer be ignored. Global warming, deforestation, eutrophication, and biodiversity loss are only a few climatic emergencies that we are facing due to humanity surpassing planetary boundaries. The correlation between economic growth and climate change is today commonly declared, and decreasing production and consumption is becoming increasingly urgent to avoid an ecological collapse. Departing from the increasing urgency of the climate emergency, this thesis investigates the environmental impact of the commodification of the dairy industry from degrowth perspective. Nested in a Northern Swedish rural context, this paper speculates about how the Swedish breakfast can be re-localised through degrowth processes, and how this can contribute to producing alternative, degrowth housing structures in the rural area Tavelsjö. A housing structure which creates low impact domesticity and a post-growth rural community.

Our study investigates how the organizational growth paradox is perceived and managed by incumbent firms from a degrowth perspective. There is a growing critique against the growth paradigm, an increasing support for its abandonment. Scholars are calling for a paradigm shift towards a post-growth economy. The degrowth movement has paid more attention to macroeconomics but it has been insufficiently researched on a micro level. It is viewed as being too abstract and does not provide concrete frameworks that can be applied in a business context. We address this gap by applying two theoretical frameworks, organizational paradox and degrowth theory. Then the degrowth notion is defined on a macro- and a micro-level, including relevant degrowth frameworks such as the Doughnut Economic and the Circular Economy model. Lastly, we define organizational paradoxes and possible managerial responses to them. The degrowth agenda has a variety of perspectives that range from radical to more moderate. We adopt a moderate perspective, influenced by Buch-Hansen and Nesterova (2023) and consequently, we anticipate gradual changes as incumbents adapt to a post- growth economy. We collect empirical data by conducting a case study and performing semi-structured interviews on a cooperative in Sweden’s primary food industry. In addition, we interviewed the CEO of a family-owned company operating in the same industry. Moreover, we analyze the resulting organizational paradoxes, and explore management responses. Two new paradoxes have been discovered. First, the governance paradox shows that a cooperative structure by itself, as advocated by degrowth theory, does not prevent but potentially creates paradoxical tensions. Second, the core business paradox describes a dissent between the business or product and public perception. A justification response approach in this case can endanger the business’ existence. We conclude that profitability in financial terms is key to being able to transition towards degrowth. Moreover, the governance structure of a cooperative can create paradoxical tensions which, when not managed properly, can cause other paradoxes to surface. We highlight the challenges of implementing degrowth thinking at a micro-level, as incumbents are influenced by external factors and face tensions. To achieve widespread diffusion, collaboration and shared values throughout the value chain is essential. When operating in an everchanging dynamic environment, the core business can develop into a source of paradoxical tension. We recommend the paradoxical response approach, described in the Dynamic Equilibrium model (Smith & Lewis, 2011) for managing tensions, but note the risks involved. Shifting priorities without sufficient communication and motivation can harm commitment, trust, transparency, collaboration, and employee alignment. To successfully apply consistent inconsistency, strong management skills to foster employee commitment to changing priorities are required.

This study deals with municipal planning in municipalities that has a declining population, often referred to as shrinking municipalities. Data collection was done by interviews with civil servants tasked with planning in municipalities. The interview’s purpose was to gather knowledge on the experience of working within a shrinking municipality. The civil servants interviewed worked within Laxå, Sävsjö, Vimmerby, Hultsfred and Valdemarsvik municipality. The data from the interview was analyzed in relation to earlier research about societies and region with a decline in population and has its theoretical framework in the growth-critical theory degrowth. The results that’s the basis for analysis is structured after four different themes. These themes touch on the subjects of challenges, possibilities, strategies, activities as well as attitude in relation to the civil servants’ experiences.  The analysis of the results ends up problematizing the growth paradigm since shrinking municipalities becomes disadvantaged by creating growth-oriented strategies. Furthermore, the results show how creative solutions to counter or alternatively adapt shrinkage remains absent in shrinking municipalities due to a lack of a long-term perspective in planning. / Denna studie behandlar samhällsplanering i kommuner med en minskande befolkning, ofta benämnt som krympande kommuner. Materialinsamlingen till studien genomfördes med intervjuer där tjänstepersoner som jobbar med samhällsplanering tillfrågades. Syftet med intervjuerna var att ta in tjänstepersonernas erfarenheter om att jobba i en krympande kommun. Tjänstepersonerna som intervjuades tillhörde Laxå, Sävsjö, Vimmerby, Hultsfred och Valdemarsvik kommun. Intervjumaterialet analyserades i relation tidigare forskning om minskande samhällen och regioner med teoretisk utgångspunkt i tillväxtkritiska teorin degrowth. I resultatet presenteras det material som vidare ligger till grund för analysen strukturerade efter fyra olika teman. Dessa teman berör utmaningar, möjligheter, strategier, verksamheter och inställning i förhållande till tjänstepersonernas erfarenheter. Analysen av resultatet leder i slutet till en problematisering av tillväxtparadigmet då minskande kommuner missgynnas av att utforma tillväxtorienterade strategier. Vidare påvisade även resultatet att kreativa lösningar för att motverka alternativt anpassa krympande uteblir i krympande kommuner till följd av brist på långsiktigt perspektiv i samhällsplaneringen.

Esta dissertação de mestrado tem como tema central a mobilização políticoecológica de Decrescimento na França. Com o argumento de que o crescimento econômico destrói o meio ambiente, militantes do decrescimento acionam uma diversidade de coletivos, ações e ideias para construir uma mobilização política em forma de nebulosa. Diferente de um movimento social, de um partido político ou de um grupo com contornos bem estabelecidos, uma nebulosa é uma mobilização descentrada e aberta, que coloca em relação iniciativas distribuídas pelo território francês com a preocupação de garantir a autonomia e a particularidade de cada grupo local. A fim de discutir as implicações dessa forma de fazer política que é frequentemente considerada inovadora, esta dissertação toma como ponto de partida a nouvelle gauche, nascida em meados dos anos 1950 na França. Por meio do levantamento de algumas questões que aparecem nessa nova esquerda, discute-se as implicações do aparecimento de novas maneiras de conceber o social e agir politicamente em detrimento do marxismo, da contradição de classes e da noção de exploração por meio do trabalho. Diante da problematização do conjunto de ideias e práticas que tomava corpo naquele período, parte-se para uma discussão das continuidades e descontinuidades instauradas pelo decrescimento com relação aos movimentos precedentes, através da descrição etnográfica das relações estabelecidas pelos militantes franceses. Por fim, as novas formas de fazer política desenvolvidas pelo decrescimento são problematizadas na medida em que são aproximadas das novas formas do capitalismo. Muitas análises sugerem que a crítica tornou-se o motor do capitalismo por meio da incorporação de formas de organização social e ideológica que tem profundas afinidades com o movimento decrescimento. Dessa forma, são discutidas as contradições de um movimento que tenta colocar o crescimento em xeque. / The aim of this thesis is to discuss the degrowth movement in France. Considering that economic growth leads to environmental damages, degrowth activists state that it is necessary to create new forms of political action. Thus, many informal collectives, practices and ideas are mobilized in order to built what is called nebula of degrowth. Different from a social movement, a political party or a well defined group, a nebula is a non-centered and opened mobilization, that establishes many relations between collectives and groups spread all over the French territory. While the connections are created, many efforts are made to guarantee the differences and autonomy of the groups joined together. To discuss the implications of the nebula form of degrowth, this thesis goes back to the emergency of the nouvelle gauche, during the 1950s. Some issues that usually have shown up in this moment allows us to discuss how society and political action was reconceptualized, for example by the expulsion of marxist ideas such as class struggle and labor exploitation. The mapping of the main points of the new left in France leads us to discuss the continuities and discontinuities introduced by degrowth movement in the political scenery. After an ethnographic presentation of degrowth nebula, the conclusion is that there are many contradictions in the form the movement states social criticism. To explain what are the meanings of such contradictions, a final topic is presented: the contradictions of the contemporary capitalism. By bringing capitalism and degrowth movement aside, it is possible to see that both have similar but opposite forms.

Nous nous intéresserons dans cette étude au lien entre la décroissance — mouvement pluriforme qui tire ses racines de l’écologie radicale — et cinq romans de fantasy contemporains : The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien 1954-55), The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula K. Le Guin 1969), His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman 1995-2000), Enchantment (Orson Scott Card 1999) et Harry Potter (J. K. Rowling 1997-2007). Nous nous concentrerons sur ce qui nous semble être l’essence de la décroissance, à savoir, d’une part, le refus de considérer la surenchère comme une solution aux problèmes ou l’accumulation comme seule forme de bonheur, et, d’autre part, la diminution volontaire comme moyen d’améliorer la condition humaine.Plus précisément, nous étudierons la diminution de pouvoir, d’autorité et de savoir. Nous nous intéresserons à la représentation de ces trois concepts au travers des procédés narratifs et stylistiques, ainsi que des différentes icônes et figures qui les incarnent, et nous étudierons la façon dont ils mettent en scène une tension constante entre croissance et décroissance. Dans cette optique, le rôle du narrateur et du lecteur dans la création du monde fantastique aura une importance particulière, car il est le cœur même de l’interaction fertile entre savoir et autorité, qui reflète l’accession du protagoniste au pouvoir. C’est la spécificité du traitement de ces concepts par les outils propres à la fantasy et à la science fiction que nous nous attacherons à mettre en lumière. / This study will focus on the relation between degrowth — a multifaceted movement which takes its roots in deep ecology — and five fantasy novels, The Lord of the Rings (J. R.R. Tolkien 1954-55), The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula K. Le Guin 1969), His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman 1995-2000), Enchantment (Orson Scott Card 1999) et Harry Potter (J. K. Rowling 1997-2007). The focus will be on the essence of degrowth, viz., on the one hand, a denial of escalation as a solution and of hoarding as the only form of happiness,and on the other hand, a willing diminishing as a means to improve human condition. More specifically, it is the decrease in power, authority and knowledge that will be studied. The emphasis will be on the representation of these three notions through narrative and stylistic devices, as well as on the various icons and figures embodying them, in order to show the way they set up a constant tension between growth and degrowth. To that effect, the role of both narrator and reader in the creation of the fantastic world will be given due consideration, for it is at the very heart of the fruitful interaction between knowledge and authority, which reflects the protagonist’s rise to power. Thus, the specificity of the fantasy and science fiction approach to these notions will be highlighted.

Iki ekonominės krizės visuomenėje vyravo vartotojiškas požiūris, gauti kuo didesnes pajamas, noras turėti kuo daugiau, tačiau toks besaikis vartojimas pasaulį privedė prie finansinės krizės ir sukrėtė vyraujantį ekonominį modelį iki pat pamatų. Nepaisant technologinių pasiekimų, keičiantis gamybos ir vartojimo tempams kinta ir išteklių naudojimas bei aplinkos tarša. Nacionalinėje darnaus vystymosi strategijoje (toliau NDVS) (2009) iškeltas tikslas, kad Lietuva pagal ekonomikos lygį ir išteklių naudojimo efektyvumo rodiklius iki 2020 m. turi pasiekti 2003 m. ES–15 šalių vidurkį, o pagal aplinkos taršos rodiklius – neviršyti ES leistinų normatyvų, todėl labai svarbu žinoti, kaip siekiant šių tikslų gali keistis aplinkos būklė ir, ar pasiseks įgyvendinti darnaus vystymosi strategijoje numatytus aplinkosauginius tikslus. Darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti pagrindinius aplinkos sektoriaus darnaus vystymosi rodiklius ir nustatyti jų priklausomybę nuo ekonomikos pokyčių 2000–2020 m. Lietuvoje. Darbe buvo analizuojami pagrindiniai Lietuvos darnaus vystymosi ekonominiai, socialiniai ir aplinkosauginiai rodikliai 2000–2010 m., taip pat nustatyta aplinkos kintamųjų priklausomybė nuo ekonomikos (ne)augimo ir įvertintos galimos aplinkos kintamųjų tendencijos bei galimybės įgyvendinti iškeltus tikslus, pagal tris galimus ekonomikos vystymosi scenarijus 2010–2020 m. laikotarpiu. Sudarius tris galimus ekonomikos vystymosi scenarijus rezultatai parodė, kad jei šalies ūkis vystytųsi pagal pirmą (16... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Consumeristic approach to maximize income, the desire to have more has dominated in societies before the economic crisis, but that excessive consumption of the world has led to the financial crisis witch has shaken dominant economic model to the foundation. Despite technological achievements, changing production and consumption rates influence use of resources and environment pollution. The main aim of the National Sustainable Development Strategy (2009) is to achieve the average development level of EU15 in year 2003 according to the indicators of economic and social developments as well as to the efficiency in consumption of resources and to stay within the EU’s allowable limits by 2020. The aim of the study is to examine main sustainability indicators of environmental sphere and to assess their dependence from economic (GDP) changes over 2000–2020 periods in Lithuania. The main changes of indicators of sustainable development over 2000–2010 period were assessed in Lithuania. Also dependence of environment variables from economic (de)growth was examined and possible tendencies of environmental variables and opportunities to achieve foreseen targets, according to three possible scenarios for economic development over 2000–2020 periods were evaluated. Three possible scenarios for economic development has shown that if country’s economy develops according to the first (16 % GDP growth) or second (zero GDP growth) scenario, the aim set by NSDS (2009) to decouple the... [to full text]