Transition conflicts: A Gramscian political ecology perspective on the contested nature of sustainability transitions

Abstract

Despite a broad consensus on sustainability, conflicts are increasingly prevalent in sustainability transitions. Although these conflicts significantly influence transition dynamics and socio-ecological futures, the role of conflicts in sustainability transitions remains insufficiently addressed. This paper aims to elucidate the contested dynamics of sustainability transitions by merging political ecology's emphasis on conflicts, nature, power, and justice with Gramscian hegemony theory. The integrated framework of Gramscian political ecology enables the analysis of transition conflicts as struggles for hegemony on the terrain of society-nature relations amid ecological crises. A brief comparative study of coal transitions in South Africa and Germany serves to illustrate the key insights that Gramscian political ecology offers into the contested nature of sustainability transitions, including conflict dynamics, power strategies, and barriers and potentials for radical transformative change.