Publication: What “green transformations” will humanity need to undergo to live sustainably on planet Earth?

The Politics of Green Transformations, edited by Ian Scoones, Melissa Leach and Peter Newell, examines what social and political alliances are required to undertake these green transformations.

Recalling past transformations, this book examines what makes the current challenge different, and especially urgent. It examines how green transformations must take place in the context of the particular moments of capitalist development, and in relation to particular alliances. The role of the state is emphasised, both in terms of the type of incentives required to make green transformations politically feasible and in the way states must take a developmental role in financing innovation and technology for green transformations.

The book also highlights the role of citizens as innovators, entrepreneurs, green consumers and members of social movements. Green transformations must be both ‘top-down’, involving elite alliances between states and business as well as ‘bottom up’, pushed by grassroots innovators and entrepreneurs, and part of wider mobilisations among civil society. The chapters in the book draw on international examples to emphasise how these contexts matter in shaping pathways to sustainability.

Professor Peter Newell, University of Sussex said: “It is now received wisdom in most quarters that we need to transform the global economy along more sustainable lines. But who decides what is to be transformed and how, and who will benefit from this? Questions of transformation are about politics, power and coalitions as much as technology, markets and innovation alone. This book shows how and why these matter and what’s at stake in the politics of green transformations.”

The Politics of Green Transformations is part of the Pathways to Sustainability Series, which is based on the work of the Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability (STEPS) Centre, a major investment of the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The STEPS Centre brings together researchers at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research) at the University of Sussex with a set of partner institutions in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

More information on The Politics of Green Transformations

To request a review copy, or to schedule an interview with the authors, please contact Katy Kasle, Marketing Manager, Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, P: 212-216-7835, E: katharine.kasle@taylorandfrancis.com

Routledge is a global publisher of academic books, journals and online resources across Social Sciences, the Humanities and Built Environment, with offices in the US, UK, Brazil, Singapore, China and India. We publish a wide range of books and journals, serving scholars, instructors, students and professional communities worldwide. Our current publishing programme encompasses fundamental professional resources, groundbreaking textbooks and premier, peer-reviewed research. We have partnered with many of the most influential societies and academic research bodies to publish their journals and book series. Readers can access tens of thousands of print and e-books from our extensive catalogue of titles. Routledge is part of theTaylor & Francis Group, an Informa business.

Routledge Sustainability has evolved from and incorporates the former Earthscan imprint and is the leading global publisher in the inter-disciplinary field of Environment and Sustainability studies. We offer a broad array of titles from accessible introductions and supplementary readings to policy-influencing titles, and from important research to cutting-edge series for a range of academics, professionals and general readers. Our publications cover wide-ranging topics from climate change, the sustainable management of natural resources and the environmental humanities to sustainable energy, business and development.

Source: Information by Routledge from 23.02.2015The Politics of Green Transformations, edited by Ian Scoones, Melissa Leach and Peter Newell, examines what social and political alliances are required to undertake these green transformations.

Recalling past transformations, this book examines what makes the current challenge different, and especially urgent. It examines how green transformations must take place in the context of the particular moments of capitalist development, and in relation to particular alliances. The role of the state is emphasised, both in terms of the type of incentives required to make green transformations politically feasible and in the way states must take a developmental role in financing innovation and technology for green transformations.

The book also highlights the role of citizens as innovators, entrepreneurs, green consumers and members of social movements. Green transformations must be both ‘top-down’, involving elite alliances between states and business as well as ‘bottom up’, pushed by grassroots innovators and entrepreneurs, and part of wider mobilisations among civil society. The chapters in the book draw on international examples to emphasise how these contexts matter in shaping pathways to sustainability.

Professor Peter Newell, University of Sussex said: “It is now received wisdom in most quarters that we need to transform the global economy along more sustainable lines. But who decides what is to be transformed and how, and who will benefit from this? Questions of transformation are about politics, power and coalitions as much as technology, markets and innovation alone. This book shows how and why these matter and what’s at stake in the politics of green transformations.”

The Politics of Green Transformations is part of the Pathways to Sustainability Series, which is based on the work of the Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability (STEPS) Centre, a major investment of the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The STEPS Centre brings together researchers at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research) at the University of Sussex with a set of partner institutions in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

More information on The Politics of Green Transformations

To request a review copy, or to schedule an interview with the authors, please contact Katy Kasle, Marketing Manager, Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, P: 212-216-7835, E: katharine.kasle@taylorandfrancis.com

Routledge is a global publisher of academic books, journals and online resources across Social Sciences, the Humanities and Built Environment, with offices in the US, UK, Brazil, Singapore, China and India. We publish a wide range of books and journals, serving scholars, instructors, students and professional communities worldwide. Our current publishing programme encompasses fundamental professional resources, groundbreaking textbooks and premier, peer-reviewed research. We have partnered with many of the most influential societies and academic research bodies to publish their journals and book series. Readers can access tens of thousands of print and e-books from our extensive catalogue of titles. Routledge is part of theTaylor & Francis Group, an Informa business.

Routledge Sustainability has evolved from and incorporates the former Earthscan imprint and is the leading global publisher in the inter-disciplinary field of Environment and Sustainability studies. We offer a broad array of titles from accessible introductions and supplementary readings to policy-influencing titles, and from important research to cutting-edge series for a range of academics, professionals and general readers. Our publications cover wide-ranging topics from climate change, the sustainable management of natural resources and the environmental humanities to sustainable energy, business and development.

Source: Information by Routledge from 23.02.2015