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In the context of contemporary socio-environmental shifts, the concept of “degrowth” advocates for transforming societies to ensure environmental justice and a well-being for all within planetary boundaries. This PhD thesis, positioned within degrowth studies, provides a processual, holistic and interdisciplinary exploration of the dynamics between degrowth transformations and capital accumulation, understood as an all-encompassing power process. I start by critically exploring the role of capital accumulation in the unfolding of degrowth transformations, highlighting some shortcomings of conventional views that predominantly see capital accumulation as a primarily production-oriented process. While, historically, the degrowth project has opposed economism, these perspectives tend to overlook the deep intertwinement between economics and politics in the intersection between degrowth transformations and capital accumulation. This thesis then considers “Capital as Power” (CasP) theory, which dissolves the boundaries between economics and politics in the study of capital. Key implications of CasP for the unfolding of degrowth transformations are highlighted. Through this lens, I identify four distinct elements of dynamics, each represented as a causal loop diagram (CLD), capturing the complex relationship between degrowth transformations and the power processes of capital accumulation. Using insights from Social Practice Theory (SPT), I further investigate how degrowth-aligned practices, reforms, and ruptures may be inhibited by “strategic sabotage” processes that bolster capital accumulation, conceptualising four modes of sabotage, set into motion through two additional elements of dynamics. These six elements of dynamics are then assembled into a single CLD, which is used to explore four scenarios for the unfolding or marginalisation of degrowth transformations against the process of capital accumulation. In short, as the journey progresses, this thesis assembles a p, Doctorat en Sciences, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Society is transforming through a whirlpool of innovations. This includes technological as well as social innovations, i.e. changes in social relations involving new ways of doing, organizing, framing and knowing. Especially the potentials for transformative social innovation (TSI) are gaining the interest of progressive political actors and critical scholars. Occurring in the form of new modes of governance and alternative ways of working and living together, TSI involves the challenging, altering or replacing of dominant institutions. As documented in various strands of critical social inquiry and innovation research, TSI praxis is pervaded with contradictions, anomalies and paradoxes. This methodological contribution addresses the challenge that tends to remain: How to elaborate this general critical awareness into more operational ‘strategies of inquiry’? The paper discusses paradoxes of a) system reproduction, b) temporality, and c) reality construction. Identifying distinct kinds of contradictions and distinct empirical phenomena, this differentiation also calls attention to the associated differences between realist, processual and constructivist research philosophies. Gathering the empirical analyses, theoretical interpretations and methodological advances that have been made on these paradoxes, this contribution opens up the scope for critical and practically relevant innovation research: It is important to bridge the divide between rigorous but sterile methodological know-how, and critical-reflexive theorizing that lacks operational insights., iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The rise of Greta Thunberg, the Swedish ‘flygskam’ (flight shame) movement, and school strikes for climate: the context for apprehending environmental affairs changed significantly in 2018, enabling the construction of a new environmental discourse of which practices of eco-shaming and emotions of eco-shame are visible expressions. This paper conceptualizes this ‘eco-shaming’ discourse by exposing the complex set of constituents underpinning it. It demonstrates how the eco-shaming discourse embodies a conception of the environment as public good and how it relies on the idea of shared but differentiated responsibilities in caring for the environment. As such, the paper adds the eco-shaming discourse as an eleventh environmental discourse to the ones famously identified in The Politics of the Earth. The paper then compares the eco-shaming discourse with other environmental discourses and discusses its implications for environmental politics. The paper draws upon a specific methodological application of discourse analysis that gives emotion a place it usually lacks in environmental discourse analysis. The empirical analysis includes text documents (n = 2155) from three societal domains (media, policy, and advocacy) in Belgium. This paper contributes theoretical and empirical knowledge on eco-shaming, environmental discourses, policymaking, as well as methodological insights on how to acquire such knowledge., iiTSE, SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

info:eu-repo/semantics/published

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

L’objectif de cette thèse en sciences et gestion de l’environnement est d’actualiser les recherches sur le mouvement de justice climatique en Europe, tout en proposant une conceptualisation ascendante de « la construction de mouvement ». Cette conceptualisation est « ascendante » (bottom-up), dans la mesure où l’analyse proposée dérive en premier lieu des données collectées dans le cadre de l’enquête de terrain, qui ont ensuite été croisées avec certains apports importants de la littérature scientifique. Les registres théoriques mobilisés dans cette thèse sont multiples, de la sociologie des mouvements sociaux aux études de genre, de la géographie humaine critique à l’étude des organisations, de la psychologie sociale aux sciences politiques.La méthodologie principale est une ethnographie multisituée et engagée. L’enquête de terrain a duré un peu plus de quatre ans (2017-2021) et a été réalisée dans différents pays d’Europe, avec un accent particulier porté sur l’Allemagne et la Belgique. Elle s’appuie sur deux études de cas qui revendiquent leur appartenance au mouvement de justice climatique, l’alliance Ende Gelände en Allemagne et le collectif Climate Justice Camp Belgium en Belgique. L’enquête de terrain a également eu lieu au sein d’instances de réseautage comme le réseau européen Climate Justice Action (CJA). La thèse est structurée de manière thématique. L’introduction présente les objectifs et les questions de recherche. Le chapitre 1 joue le rôle de chapitre méthodologique. Le chapitre 2 porte sur l’histoire du mouvement de justice climatique en Europe à partir de 2008 et jusqu’en 2021. Le chapitre 3 porte sur les évolutions de la compréhension, du traitement et de l’utilisation de la justice climatique comme cadre et comme idéologie. Le chapitre 4 porte sur les dynamiques internes d’organisation de mes deux études de cas. Le chapitre 5 porte sur la composition sociale du mouvement de justice climatique, et sur les manières de comprendre et de combattre l’h, Doctorat en Sciences, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The “exnovation” concept helps to understand the linkages between a range of developments in business ecosystems and business models that at first sight seem unconnected: the phasing out of coal plants, the decline of traditional retail, the de-materialisation of economic production, the decline of industrial regions, the various policies introduced to get rid of polluting vehicles, or Marie Kondo’s influential advice on “decluttered” consumer lifestyles. Which weak signals of an emerging exnovation mindset can we distinguish? What elements of Circular Economy transitioning and which changes in the business ecosystem does it indicate? How can businesses use the concept to inform Circular Economy transition strategies?, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Glazing is both an ordinary and an essential building product, which has undergone radical transformations since the post-war period. Simple panes of glass mounted on wooden frames have been progressively replaced by insulating glass units composed of two or even three glass sheets assembled together by a complex combination of aluminium, plastics, composites, metal oxides and hydrophilic substances. At the same time, thermal regulations and environmental labels have led to the emergence of a new socio-technical regime based on a compromise between the modern promise of greater comfort and the need to contain energy demand. Governments and industries have thus promoted the development and spread of new technologies deemed more efficient in the hope of reconciling economic growth and ecological transition.However, the primacy given to the performance over the use phase tends to hide the environmental footprint of the construction sector, whose production plants have constantly expanded their network of natural resource exploitation. Reducing the energy bill of buildings has required the use of more complex products, and the ecological impact of these energy efficiency policies should therefore be questioned. In this respect, I trace the socio-technical trajectory of glazing through a historical and territorial perspective of this product’s life cycle. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the links between this trajectory and the biosphere, by asking the following question: how have the requirements for energy efficiency materialised throughout the life cycle of glazing and how has this materialisation impacted the biosphere?This thesis is at the crossroads of architectural research, socio-ecological studies, and science and technology studies. I combine archival research, field surveys and inventories of material and energy flows to analyse the socio-ecological trajectory of glazing in the European Union, and more specifically in France and Belgium., Doctorat en Art de bâtir et urbanisme (Polytechnique), iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

We live on a planet with finite natural resources and human activities creating pressures on the environment. The Circular Economy (CE) is gaining momentum as a means to cope with the environmental pressures from human activities. One of the main elements of CE is to maintainproducts and materials at their highest application level as long as possible, while minimising the environmental impact. Hence, a CE implies to minimising the natural resource consumption, reducing waste generation, rethinking waste management (WM), reinforcing the recycling andreuse of products and materials, in tandem with reducing emissions. Measuring is key to take the first steps for a transition towards a CE. This includes the quantification of the environmental pressures of human activities in a CE context as well as the quantification of the degree ofcircularity, i.e. how much materials are recovered from waste. Several tools and methods exist to measure and monitor how circular an economy is, but it is the input-output (IO) model that is of interest in this thesis. The general objective of this thesis is twofold: 1) develop a suitable IO model and 2) demonstrate the applicability and limits of that model. For the second point several applications (or tests) of the model are carried out with different types of analyses. The focus on the subnational level is justified by the Belgian legal and policy context in which WM and CE are mostly regional competences. This thesis has developed the first multiregional hybrid input-output (MRHIO) representing theBelgian subnational level for 2011. This development constitutes the major methodological contribution of this thesis. The critical scientific literature review that was carried out in this thesis showed that the MRHIO model is conceptually the most suitable model for WM and CE analyses at the macro scale. The developed model has been applied to analyse the environmental pressures induced by the regional household demand. Three main applicat, Option Gestion de l’environnement et d’aménagement du territoire du Doctorat en Sciences, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This paper responds to the need in innovation research for conceptual clarity and solid theory on social innovation (SI). The paper conceptualizes SI as changing social relations, involving new ways of doing, knowing, framing and organizing, and theorizes transformative social innovation (TSI) as the process of SI challenging, altering, or replacing dominant institutions in a specific social-material context. Three advances towards TSI theory are proposed. First, we reflect epistemologically on the challenges of theory-building, and propose an appropriate research design and methodology. Middle-range theory is developed through iteration between theoretical insights and comparative empirical study of 20 transnational SI networks and about 100 associated initiatives. Second, we synthesize various innovation theories and social theories into a relational framework that articulates the distributed agency and institutional hybridization involved. Third, we formulate twelve propositions on the emergence of SI initiatives, on the development of SI ecosystems, on institutionalization processes, and on the historical shaping of SI. The paper ends with a critical assessment of the advances made, also identifying further challenges for TSI theory and practice., SCOPUS: ar.j, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Les chaines d’approvisionnement contemporaines sont source de problèmes environnementaux, mais aussi d’impacts pour les communautés des abords des activités de production, consommateurs, ou encore travailleurs. Pour évaluer ces impacts, l’analyse sociale du cycle de vie (ACV-S) est développée depuis quinze ans en complément de l’ACV-E, qui traite, elle, des impacts environnementaux le long du cycle de vie des produits. Cette thèse vise à répondre à certains des défis méthodologiques pour sa conception et son application, par une évaluation de produits de systèmes alimentaires alternatifs belges (SAA), et à ces deux questions: i) que devrait évaluer l’ACV-S et ii) comment intégrer les chaines de causes à effet dans l’analyse, comme en ACV-E. Sur base de trois états de l’art (des cadres d’ACV-S, des études incluant les chaines de cause à effet, et des évaluations de produits alimentaires), nous développons et mettons en œuvre des propositions qui plaident pour i) une approche participative pour définir les critères; ii) une évaluation d’impact pour comprendre les pratiques des entreprises plutôt que leur simple rapportage, à travers l’articulation des indicateurs sur la base de théories existantes, comme l’approche de Global Commodity Chain: celle-ci place la gouvernance des chaines et la répartition de la valeur ajoutée entre les acteurs comme des facteurs explicatifs potentiels des problèmes socio-économiques présents dans les chaines; iii) une approche ‘imbriquée’ de la durabilité (ou ‘nested’), qui implique la considération des aspects économiques et de gouvernance des chaines, à côté des aspects managériaux et ‘sociaux’, et leur mise en relation. Nous cherchons ainsi à contribuer à faire de l’ACV-S un outil analytique qui vise l’amélioration des principaux problèmes dans les chaines d’approvisionnement, en analysant leurs causes profondes. Nos évaluations de produits de SAA, y. c. circuits courts et commerce équitable ‘Nord-Nord’, révèlent des rémunérations trop, Today’s supply chains entail numerous and serious issues, concerning the environment but also regarding people, including communities’ surrounding production activities, final consumers and workers. In order to assess those latter social and socio-economic impacts on people, Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) is a tool being currently developed to complement E-LCA, which assesses potential environmental impacts along the life cycle of products and services. This PhD aims to address some of the outstanding methodological challenges faced by S-LCA, with the support of an application on products from Belgian alternative food network (AFNs). The thesis focuses on three related main questions: i) what should S-LCA assess (topics, level of assessment, i.e. company’s practices, impacts on people, other) and ii) how to include impact pathways or cause-effect chains in the analysis, as it is done in E-LCA; iii) how should the assessment be carried out, so that it goes beyond a mere reporting? On the basis of three distinct states-of-the-art (on S-LCA frameworks, studies considering impact pathways and S-LCA studies in the food sector), we put forward and apply specific methodological proposals that argue for i) the use of a participatory approach to select assessment criteria; ii) the use of an impact assessment approach that allows to understand company’s practices rather than their mere reporting, through an articulation of assessment criteria and indicators based on existing theories, including in social sciences. In this regard, the Global commodity chain approach that identify chain governance and value distribution among chain actors as potential stressors or root causes of social and socio-economic problems in supply chains, seems particularly relevant; iii) the use of a nested approach to sustainability in which also economic and governance aspects are taken into account, in addition to managerial and “social” aspects of supply chains, which are usually included. W, Doctorat en Sciences, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Since various public and private actors at the international, supranational, national and subnational levels started to adopt long-term targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, low-carbon scenario analyses have flourished. Literature reveals an increasing number of analyses envisioning and exploring alternative images of low-carbon futures, as well as their adjacent transition pathways. Scenario approaches or “foresight” is intended to help policy-makers to navigate the maelstrom of confusion and conflicts associated with highly complex societal challenges such as climate change – i.e. the “super-wicked” problems. Typical scenario exercises aim at coping with uncertainty and conflicting values, and hence are often claimed as a suitable approach for knowing and governing super-wicked problems. When reviewing the scenario literature published over the recent years, we observe significant methodological developments, in particular at the level of the calculus or data-sets. These contributions have generated an increasing technical sophistication of scenario building methods, and contrast with the relative absence of social sciences research on scenarios. Scenario analyses have received little academic attention from social sciences, whether they are political science, sociology, philosophy of science or science and technology studies. By providing a SHS-analysis of low-carbon scenarios, the present thesis contributes to bridge this research gap. Scenarios are here understood as “boundary objects” linking different social worlds: science and policy, but also natural and social sciences. This thesis aspires to create an enhanced understanding on how scenario analyses perform such “boundary work”. More specifically, the following analysis of low-carbon scenarios is based on a twofold perspective focusing, on the one hand, on the interactions between low-carbon scenarios and governance (i.e. link between science and policy), and, on the other hand, on the making of k, Doctorat en Sciences, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In recent years, there have been substantial efforts towards theory-building and conceptual clarification in social innovation (SI) research further contributing to its consolidation as a research field. Taking a different angle, this special issue aims to contribute to such consolidation by introducing greater reflexivity about the underlying methodologies and logics of inquiry. It features eight contributions from the main methodological orientations in SI research, namely systematic knowledge development and action-oriented research that discuss particular methodological challenges and advances. This editorial synthesis serves to take stock and elicit their broader significance for SI research along the normative, temporal and comparative dimensions of methodology choices. Dimensions, which are salient to SI research without being tied to any specific methodological tradition. As such, they reflect our aim to transcend the methodological fragmentation of the SI research field and open up a methodological discussion through a methodologically pluralist stance, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

0, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

0, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In recent years, there have been substantial efforts towards theory-building and conceptual clarification in social innovation (SI) research further contributing to its consolidation as a research field. Taking a different angle, this special issue aims to contribute to such consolidation by introducing greater reflexivity about the underlying methodologies and logics of inquiry. It features eight contributions from the main methodological orientations in SI research, namely systematic knowledge development and action-oriented research that discuss particular methodological challenges and advances. This editorial synthesis serves to take stock and elicit their broader significance for SI research along the normative, temporal and comparative dimensions of methodology choices. Dimensions, which are salient to SI research without being tied to any specific methodological tradition. As such, they reflect our aim to transcend the methodological fragmentation of the SI research field and open up a methodological discussion through a methodologically pluralist stance., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This working paper presents the TRANSIT open-access online database on Critical Turning Points (CTP) in Transformative Social Innovation. It specifies the contents of the database, comprising qualitative accounts of more than 450 ‘critical’ episodes in the evolution of social innovation initiatives in 27 different countries. Providing the theoretical-methodological context to these data, the paper also describes the theoretical background of the CTP concept and the methodology though which the CTP accounts have been reconstructed through interviews with members of SI initiatives. The paper concludes with reflections on the open access CTP database as a knowledge infrastructure, discussing its significance in terms of mapping, dissemination and framing of social innovation., 0, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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The improvement of environmental impacts from production and consumption is an important sustainability target for Belgium, defined in federal and regional strategies for sustainable development. In order to monitor the implementation of sustainability targets a framework that can consistently link production and consumption and assess multiple environmental impacts such as climate change or resource use is needed. The most recognised method for the quantification of environmental impacts of product systems is life cycle assessment (LCA). Most LCAs focusing on production and consumption activities are carried out at national level. However, when regional differences in production and/or consumption structure exist, which is the case for Belgium, the use of more regionalised datasets and assessments seems more appropriate. This PhD thesis develops a multi-regional environmentally extended input-output model (EE-MRIOM) that can account for regional variation in production and consumption patterns and analyse environmental impacts of products from life cycle perspective. The model analysis three Belgian regions (Brussels, Flanders, Wallonia with a special focus on the latter) and their connections via trade flows with the rest of the world. The regional input-output tables (IOTs) of Belgium were linked to a global input-output database (EXIOBASE) and integrated into the LCA framework. The initial regional environmental data on major air emissions were extended by resource use and other emission data, so that a wide spectrum of potential environmental impacts can be analysed. The model represents all economic activities in 2003, 2007 and 2010 with a higher resolution in environmentally important sectors (e.g. energy, construction products, waste).The analysis of environmental impacts from production and consumption perspective confirms the relevance of the life cycle thinking approach, as, for example only 10 % of Walloon household environmental impacts are direct impac, Doctorat en Sciences, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Current persistent challenges of sustainable and equitable development call for systemic technical and social innovations. The ´insertion´ practices of work integration social enterprises (WISEs) can be considered examples of such innovation efforts. The underlying rationales and institutional frameworks have been elaborated extensively in social economy scholarship. However, as WISEs are frequently reported to fall victim to pressures towards isomorphism or ‘capture’ by incumbent institutional structures, transitions theory seems worthwhile to invoke in order to develop a dynamic understanding of these processes. As illustrated through case study data on the Flemish social economy, it is highlighted how ´insertion´ displays longitudinal dynamics of institutional capture that are similar to those observed in sustainability transitions more generally. This empirical analysis helps to identify the scope for fruitful paradigmatic interplay between transitions studies and social economy scholarship., SCOPUS: ar.j, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This paper makes a contribution to the identified need for conceptual clarity and new theory on social innovation. Specifically it addresses transformative social innovation (TSI), defined as the process of challenging, altering, or replacing the dominance of existing institutions in a specific social and material context. Social innovation initiatives and networks are understood as the key collective actors that instigate TSI processes. They do not all start out with transformative ambitions however. Of those that do, only a few eventually achieve transformative impacts; indeed there are many risks of capture and co-option along the way. A relational framing is presented as the most suitable way to theorise the emergent and multiply embedded nature of SI initiatives interacting with changing institutions, where organizational and institutional boundaries are often fluid and under negotiation. To develop middle-range theoretical insights on TSI, we conducted an empirical study of 20 transnational social innovation networks and about 100 associated social innovation initiatives over a four-year period. The resulting contribution towards the solidification of a theory of TSI, consists of three layers: firstly, the research design and methodology employed; secondly, a relational framework for TSI that articulates four key ‘clusters’ of (inter)relations in TSI processes; and, thirdly, a solidifying and iteratively developed set of theoretical propositions on TSI processes. These propositions articulate the complex and intertwined process-relations of TSI, based on our study of the empirics. The paper ends with an assessment of the contribution of this TSI-theorising, and a discussion of the challenge of further developing TSI theory., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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SCOPUS: ch.b, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Indicators of sustainable development (SDIs), societal progress and wellbeing are perceived as informational tools vital for sustainability governance. The literature has thus far overwhelmingly concentrated on improving the technical quality of the indicators, while the role of these indicators in policy processes remains under-researched. Drawing on literature concerning policy evaluation and assessments. - as well as the emerging literature on the interplay between indicators and policy. - this article identifies a number of issues central for the role of SDIs in governance processes. It draws attention to the multiple indirect pathways through which these indicators exert their influence, highlighting the conceptual and political roles of SDIs. The conclusions outline a number of trade-offs and ambiguities inherent in the use and development of indicators., SCOPUS: re.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

There is an increasing recognition of the need for social innovation, and in particular transformative social innovation (TSI), to meet current societal challenges. In this regard it is often asserted that TSI typically emerges through crisis. Still there is much to be clarified about this phenomenon. This contribution seeks to clarify the issue through a larger-N inquiry of twenty social innovation initiatives in various European and Latin American countries. Building on insights from transitions studies, a framework is developed and tested that classifies crises phenomena along a temporal dimension and a social-material dimension. The conclusion presents preliminary findings and discusses the scope for refinements in the analytical framework., info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Social innovation is increasingly believed to have a great potential for addressing persistent societal challenges such as sustainability, social inclusion, democratization and deprivation. We understand transformative social innovation (TSI) as social innovation that is aimed to challenge, alter, replace or provide alternatives to dominant institutions and structures. Efforts to institutionalize TSI ambitions tend to lead into a grey zone between transformation and reproduction. This contribution will follow earlier explorations into this territory that work with dialectical perspectives. As preparation for a broader comparative case study, we compare institutionalization dialectics as they unfolded in the cases of the Basic Income and Timebanks. We conclude with preliminary observations on these two cases, and evaluate how the dialectical framework helps to gain systematic insight into TSI institutionalization., info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The persistence of current societal problems has given rise to a quest for transformative social innovations. As social innovation actors seek to become change makers, it has been suggested that they need to play into impactful macrodevelopments or “game-changers”. Here, we aim to deepen the understanding of the social innovation agency in these transformation games. We analyze assumptions about the game metaphor, invoking insights from actor-network theory. The very emergence of transformation games is identified as a crucial but easily overlooked issue. As explored through the recent electricity blackout threat in Belgium, some current transformation games are populated with largely passive players. This illustrative case demonstrates that socially innovative agency cannot be presupposed. In some transformation games, the crucial game-changing effect is to start the game by activating the players., SCOPUS: ar.j, iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

New indicators "beyond GDP" have increasingly sparked interest among various actors, whose status, objectives and visions are very different. While the pioneer reflections on economic growth and GDP were first limited to environmentalist and activist movements, civil society and local policies, they have progressively entered national and international institutional spheres. The diversity of theoretical approaches and normative positions regarding the opportunity and motives of going "beyond GDP" makes it hard to clearly identify the stances of the actors and the power balances ruling the debates. We therefore ask: what does the current interest of institutional actors in "beyond GDP" issues mean? Are they a new rhetoric liable to elude a confrontation with the structural problems resulting from the crisis? Are they an opportunity window for relaunching societal debates that are hardly raised elsewhere? Or are they a real driver toward a paradigmatic change? We try to answer that question by analyzing the discourses of institutional actors (politicians, administration, technicians) involved or not in "beyond GDP" initiatives. We show that, at the institutional level, beyond GDP debates, while raising new societal issues, do not contribute to erode the central role of economic growth. Pragmatism dominates the debates, in that dominant interests are focused on short-term constraints and objectives where GDP growth remains pivotal. The involvement of actors in "Beyond GDP" debates reveals more a need to adapt public management and policies to new constraints rather than a critical reflection on the productivist model on which our economies have been built for more than sixty years., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

iiTSE, info:eu-repo/semantics/published