Abstract
The paper considers problems and possibilities connected with governing and realising the “transition to sustainability”—or at least to a more deeply resilient energy system. Conceptually its focus is on neo-institutional analysis and critical discourse analysis and the development of a discourse-institutional perspective. The first strand of the paper outlines the limitations of and potential insights into the governance of sustainability transitions that may be derived from adopting an approach based on a more thoroughgoing appreciation and application of work in sociology on neo-institutional theory. The second strand of the paper concerns discourse, recognising the role of text, discursive practice and social structures in framing the possibilities considered available and legitimate for governance. The two strands are brought together in a discourse-institutionalist framework, an approach that is illustrated by a case study of microgeneration in the UK. The paper’s conclusion makes suggestions regarding the conduct of future research employing the proposed approach, and for furthering our understanding of issues connected with the governance of sustainability transitions.
Highlights
In the UK and elsewhere there has been much discussion about how to meet challenging commitments relating to the possible harm and costs connected with anthropogenic climate change and the emission of greenhouse gases
Governance has been thought of as a matter of economics, in which the coordinating role of markets is primary, politics in which the ―steering‖ is accomplished by government and other actors, or sociology, in which shared norms, behaviour and identities are brought into focus
It is argued here that previous work is either under-theorised or undervalues the potential insights into such developments to be derived from neo-institutional theory, as originally developed within sociology and organisation studies
Summary
In the UK and elsewhere there has been much discussion about how to meet challenging commitments relating to the possible harm and costs connected with anthropogenic climate change and the emission of greenhouse gases. Arthur Mol contemplates changes required of ―modern institutions‖ in order to ―overcome the environmental crisis‖ [3] The institutions he refers to include economic ones, such as commodity and labour markets, and ―regulating‖ ones such as science and technology organisations and the state. For example Veblen—a key figure in the founding of an institutional perspective in economics—considers how ―settled habits of thought‖ underpin behaviour [4] North, in his discussion of informal constraints, asserts that their origins lie in ―socially transmitted information‖ and that they are part of the ―heritage that we call culture‖. The paper considers what has been learned from this work about the role of sociologically understood institutions in effecting innovation which may contribute to a wider transition to sustainability, and its relevance to improving the governance of transformative change.
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