Work

Transition: Revisiting a Troubled Concept in the Age of Climate Change

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This article examines the concept of transition as it is employed in climate-change discourse, drawing lessons from earlier usage in the context of post-communist change. Approaching the green transition as both an analytical and a political concept, the article explores the intentions to which it responds, the assumptions that come with it and the extent to which these are well founded. As the article argues, the concept of transition carries an alluring promise of peaceful change that can be guided to completion by elites. Underpinning this, however, is a misleading image of linear movement towards a new state of equilibrium, the political effect of which may be to weaken the cause of climate-change mitigation and the democratic institutions on which it depends.

Source: Political Studies

DOI: 10.1177/00323217251343442

Author: Jonathan White

Institution: London School of Economics and Political Science

Language: English

Topic: Sustainability and Climate Change Governance

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650