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In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008/9 social movements reminis-cent of ecoemancipatory movements of the 1980s powerfully repoliticised the post-political order of neoliberalism. Additionally, and more recently, right-wing populist movements, Fridays for Future or political mobilisations related to the COVID-19 pandemic have substantially refashioned both the understanding of post-politics and the patterns of its repoliticisation. This article introduces a special issue on Movements and Activism beyond Post-politics. In light of these recent shifts we revisit the notion of post-politics, identify key characteristics of contemporary forms of repoliticisation, zoom in on academic debates about prefigurative and transformative politics and – following a preview of the contributions collated in the special issue – explore what the ongoing reconfiguration of public discourse may imply for further research into social movement activism beyond post-politics.

Collective alternative everyday practices (CAEPs), such as commu-nity gardens, clothing swaps or repair cafés, have become a prominent sight in the critical-creative milieus. So far, CAEPs have been mostly conceptualized in terms of prefigurative politics, i.e. as the strategy to change society through an everyday conduct that fully reflects idealized notions of the Self and society. However, there is increasing evidence of practitioners who engage in rather irregular, spontaneous ways and remain bound to an unsustainable consumer lifestyle. Scholars have identified such volatile participation as a problem for mobilization, but have not answered a) how the lack of continuous embodiment can be understood from a social movement perspective, and b) what the political quality of this behaviour might be. In this article, I address these research questions by drawing on theories of the late-modern subject and existing qualitative studies. Late-Modern Subject Theory assumes that individuals increasingly construct themselves through the market and in a multi-faceted way, due to processes such as commercialization, flexibilization and acceleration. From that perspective, volatile participants attempt to mobilize an idealized Self but are unable to do so persistently, due to the structural constraints (such as lack of time resources) and personal liberties (such as excess of consumer options) that define everyday life in late-modern society. The result are figurations of utopia that are bound to fail, but repeated ever again. These ‘refigurations’ maintain a political ele-ment through conveying a critique of and an alternative to the status quo, if only for a moment.

Currently proliferating alternative action organizations, such as food cooperatives, solidary agriculture, repair cafés, or DIY initiatives, pursue social transformation at a deliberate distance from party politics. Instead, they concentrate on changing society directly by altering everyday routines and thereby prefiguring an alternative society. Local and experimental movements promise to pioneer social alternatives, which traditional organizations appear to be unable to accomplish. This indicates a remarkable shift, since in the past, social mobilizations often pursued direct social action and party politics simultaneously. The current literature conceptualizes movements and parties primarily as cross-fertilizing allies or even potential hybrids (movement parties) yet struggles to explain why alternative action organizations in countries that have not experienced post-crisis austerity measures have largely abandoned the parliamentary arena. Addressing this gap, we compare contemporary understandings of direct social action in Germany with past understandings: that of the 1920s labour movement and the 1970s new social movements. Applying sociological theories of modernization, we demonstrate that processes of individualization and flexibilization have increased the demand for immediate experiences of social change and decreased the attractiveness of formal organization. Since this makes strategic alliances between movements and political parties increasingly unlikely, societies’ capacity to organize long-term social struggles might be impaired.

Auch wenn die Dringlichkeit einer sozial-ökologischen Transformation zur Nachhaltigkeit längst von praktisch allen Seiten anerkannt wird - moderne Gesellschaften verteidigen ihren Wohlstand und Lebensstil entschiedener denn je. Beharrlich wird eine sozial und ökologisch zerstörerische Politik der Nicht-Nachhaltigkeit betrieben. Die Konjunktur des Rechtspopulismus signalisiert, wie sehr das ökologisch-demokratische Projekt vergangener Jahrzehnte brüchig geworden ist. Und die Corona-Pandemie verschiebt die Prioritäten erneut in Richtung Wachstumspolitik und Konsumstimulation. Dieser Band stellt grundlegende Annahmen der Nachhaltigkeitsforschung und Umweltsoziologie in Frage. Er skizziert neue sozialwissenschaftliche Forschungsperspektiven, um die eigenartige Fortdauer der Nicht-Nachhaltigkeit zu erhellen.

Zwischen der von der Nachhaltigkeitsforschung und engagierten Akteuren dringend geforderten gesellschaftlichen Transformation und der sich tatsachlich abzeichnenden besteht ein eklatanter Widerspruch. Wesentliche Teile der Transformationsliteratur scheinen zudem in sonderbarer Weise abgekoppelt von der soziologischen Analyse spatkapitalistischer Gegenwartsgesellschaften. Mit Blick auf dieses gesellschaftstheoretische Defizit und orientiert an der vom WBGU vorgeschlagenen Unterscheidung dreier Handlungsebenen der Transformation befasst sich der vorliegende Beitrag zunachst mit einem Nischenakteur, der Degrowth-Bewegung, an die verbreitet hohe Erwartungen hinsichtlich ihres Transformationspotenzials geknupft werden. Danach wird die Perspektive auf den gesellschaftlichen Mainstream erweitert und erkundet, wie – entgegen der Rede von einem nachhaltigkeitsorientierten Wertewandel – in nur noch marginal wachsenden Okonomien ausgrenzende und illiberale Populismusbewegungen zur bestimmenden Kraft avanciert sind. Schlieslich richtet dieser Beitrag den Blick auf die Moglichkeiten des gestaltenden demokratischen Staates, dem bei der Nachhaltigkeitstransformation zumeist eine zentrale Rolle zugedacht wird. Insgesamt fuhrt dieser Dreischritt zu einer skeptischen Einschatzung der Transformationsfahig und -willigkeit moderner Konsumentengesellschaften.

In modern democratic consumer societies, decentralized, participative, and consensus-oriented forms of multi-stakeholder governance are supplementing, and often replacing, conventional forms of state-centered environmental government. The engagement in all phases of the policy process of diverse social actors has become a hallmark of environmental good governance. This does not mean to say, however, that these modes of policy-making have proved particularly successful in resolving the widely debated multiple sustainability crisis. In fact, they have been found wanting in terms of their ability to respond to democratic needs and their capacity to resolve environmental problems. So why have these participatory forms of environmental governance become so prominent? What exactly is their appeal? What do they deliver? Exploring these questions from the perspective of eco-political and sociological theory, this article suggests that these forms of environmental governance represent a performative kind of eco-politics that helps liberal consumer societies to manage their inability and unwillingness to achieve the socio-ecological transformation that scientists and environmental activists say is urgently required. This reading of the prevailing policy approaches as the collaborative management of sustained unsustainability adds an important dimension to the understanding of environmental governance and contemporary eco-politics more generally.

In this contribution different methods to excite dynamic systems are presented. Model-based/model-free and offline/online design plans are discussed and methods to optimize design plans with respect to the intended use are introduced. The presented design plans are appropriate to identify the dynamics of combustion engines and are evaluated by simulation and practical examples.

Online system identification with adaptive design of experiment is state of the art in static black box modelling in combustion engine calibration tasks. The online modelling is fast and leads to highly accurate results. Methodically, there is little room left for further optimization of the modelling process currently. The remaining bottleneck is the time consuming steady state measurement. In this contribution we present online black box modelling for dynamic models and model committees. The use of dynamic models helps to avoid the time consuming steady state measurement. This leads to time saving and/or more accurate models. The benefit of the proposed procedure for online modelling of dynamic models is also shown by comparing with steady state engine operating map documentation.