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The global political economy is organized around the pursuit of economic growth. Yet scholars of International Political Economy (IPE) have been surprisingly slow to address its wide-ranging implications and, thus, to advance debates about post-growth alternatives. The premise of the article is that for IPE to deepen its grasp of the escalation of contemporary socioecological crises both analytically and normatively, it needs to put the growth question front and center. To problematize the pursuit of economic growth from an IPE perspective, we bring together research on green growth, post-growth/degrowth, sustainability transitions and socioecological transformation. More specifically, we develop an analytical framework that revolves around four pathways of reorganization toward socioecological sustainability: (1) modification, (2) substitution, (3) conversion and (4) prefiguration. We use illustrative examples from the plastics and food sectors to show how the post-growth pathways of conversion and prefiguration could interact to trigger change for sustainability. Notably, our discussion reveals that conversion, which requires a strong state for developing post-growth institutions, is the least traveled pathway in both sectors. This insight points to a strategic priority for post-growth proponents and an urgent research agenda for IPE scholars. in press

The city of Moscow has been going through a transformation of its surface transport network during the past decade as part of a broader policy of urban beautification. Despite a renewed interest in...

Corporate violence is a form of organised violence motivated or caused by material interest, profit-seeking or economic expansion. It is inflicted on human beings or ecosystems. Complementing a Marxist theoretical frame with literature on ecosocialism and degrowth, we examine how corporate violence is inherent to and has been consistently encouraged by the capitalist mode of production. By drawing on the concepts of primitive accumulation and social metabolism, we visibilise how such violence is manifested within the productive forces of capitalism – natural resources, labour, technology and money. Corporate violence, we argue, may only be countered in a post-capitalist society where the productive forces are radically transformed. We build on degrowth principles to articulate how corporate violence may be countered and how post-growth organising of productive forces may look.

Non-technical summary Modern society without plastics is difficult to imagine. Yet the global plastic system is linked to a multitude of problems of a scope that is hard to grasp and address. In short, we are facing a plastic crisis. This article explores the role of art in stimulating critical reflection about plastics and analyses how it contributes to making the plastic crisis increasingly visible. Plastic-related artworks mostly focus on ocean pollution and do not pay due attention to other aspects of the plastic crisis. At the same time, they creatively communicate clear and emotionally charged messages. Art has the potential to play an important role in coming to grips with the plastic crisis if it succeeds in adopting a broader understanding of the problem.

Il lavoro e stato trasformato profondamente dal neoliberalismo. La sua mutazio-ne in capitale umano ci permette di ipotizzare l’emergere di una nuova forma di sfruttamento – l’imprinting – oltre la forma-salario e al di la di cio che Marx chiamava sussunzione del lavoro al capitale. Il discorso dell’employability gioca un ruolo chiave in questo processo. La vita stessa tende a essere percepita come progetto di occupabilita. Cio si deve alla nuova centralita assunta dalle ‘compe-tenze trasferibili’, che fungono da ‘strumentazione’ dell’occupabilita. Condizio-nando le soggettivita sia all’interno che all’esterno del lavoro, tali competenze giu-stificano sia il governo dei soggetti che lo sfruttamento. Il materiale empirico ana-lizzato nell’articolo riguarda l’EXPO milanese (2015), un contesto in cui il lavoro gratuito in quanto forma di employability e pratica di sfruttamento al di la della forma-salario si e dato in maniera particolarmente evidente.

El término mediterraneísmo identifica y traduce la lógica histórica y geográficamente específica de la vida y la coexistencia en el Mediterráneo a un marco cultural, político e incluso ético coherente. Como visión, se presenta como una alternativa sistémica o, más precisamente, recupera y radicaliza las raíces supuestamente «originales» de Occidente, confrontándolas con las perversas derivas de la civilización occidental actual.

The Topicality of André Gorz’s Political Ecology Rethinking Écologie et liberté (1977) to (Re)Connect Marxism and Degrowth