Towards post-growth policymaking: Barriers and enablers for sustainable wellbeing initiatives

2025-01-29

AI Summary

This study addresses the core challenge of achieving universal well-being within planetary boundaries, focusing on the political feasibility of post-growth policies—such as wellbeing economics and doughnut economics. Drawing on 29 cross-level governance cases from Europe, New Zealand, and Canada, it develops and applies an original “polity–politics–policy” analytical framework, integrating qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) with a framework-driven policy process approach. Five critical dimensions shaping post-growth policy adoption are identified: economic paradigm inertia, governmental organizational logic, policy actors’ attitudes, political strategies, and instrument design. Results indicate that transformative departure from growth-oriented paradigms hinges on narrative reframing and the construction of cross-ideological coalitions; concurrently, the study warns of risks associated with “depoliticized co-optation.” The contribution is twofold: (1) a systematic political diagnostic tool for post-growth policymaking, and (2) a dual-track implementation strategy—centered on visionary narrative development and inclusive coalition-building.

Technology Category

• Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Coordination and Collaboration
• Reasoning under Uncertainty: Causality
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

• Social Networks and Social Media: Media and governance, opinion dynamics, filter bubbles, polarization
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: The sharing economy
• Responsible Web: Technology governance, policy, and regulations

Abstract

Providing wellbeing for all while safeguarding planetary boundaries may require governments to pursue post-growth policies. Previous empirical studies of sustainable wellbeing initiatives investigating enablers of and barriers to post-growth policymaking are either based on a small number of empirical cases or lack an explicit analytical framework. To better understand how post-growth policymaking could be fostered, we investigate 29 initiatives across governance scales in Europe, New Zealand, and Canada. We apply a framework that distinguishes polity, politics, and policy to analyze the data. We find that the main enablers and barriers relate to the economic growth paradigm, the organization of government, attitudes towards policymaking, political strategies, and policy tools and outcomes. Engaging in positive framings of post-growth visions to change narratives and building broad-based alliances could act as drivers. However, initiatives face a tension between the need to connect to broad audiences and a risk of co-optation by depolitization.

Problem

• Examining barriers and enablers for post-growth policymaking in governments
• Identifying political dimensions limiting transformative potential of post-growth policies
• Exploring structural changes needed to support wellbeing economy initiatives

Innovation

• Analyzes barriers and enablers in post-growth policymaking
• Uses polity, politics, policy framework for data analysis
• Highlights need for structural changes in economics education