ICS Working Paper Nº1/2018

ICS W O R K I N G P A P E R S 2018 4 What is our contribution? This paper builds on the hypothesis that CBIs remain an untapped resource for socio-ecological transitions and institutional innovation in Portugal. In fact, the scarce literature on Portuguese CBIs looks at them from a predominantly descriptive standpoint, thus lacking to reflect on crucial dynamics such as their structure, reach or possible future pathways. We aim to better understand why Portuguese CBIs seem reluctant to engage head-on with the public and political arenas as champions of a socio ecological- transition. In hindsight, we focus on the key contextual changes that need to happen if CBIs are to fulfil their social innovation potential. On the one hand, they need to engage the existent institutional landscape and become politicized change actors in order to sit at key decision-making processes. On the other hand, CBIs’ full potential is unlikely to bloom without favourable institutional frameworks and policy environments. This implies local government’s acknowledgement of CBIs’ roles and achievements and willingness to share responsibilities as innovators and facilitators of socio-ecological transitions. To do so, we look at CBIs with the lens of an actor-, politics- and governance-centered framework in order to inquire into how CBIs’ agency can lead to wider structural change in a sustainability transition and under which premises such impact can be reached. Thus, Chapter 1 begins with framing the CBI inquiry into the literature of socio-ecological transitions, with a particular focus on the role of niche actors. Chapter 2 contains a descriptive synthesis and subsequent functional analysis of the existing Portuguese CBIs based on existing research databases. In Chapter 3, we critically review their engagement in light of the wider theoretical debate on the role of niche actors in “transformations in the global sustainability literature” (cf. Patterson et al., 2017: 5). Chapter 4 forwards the reasons we believe are at the root of the continuing displacement of the sustainability discourse in Portugal, outlining what we perceive as CBIs’ own transformative pathways. Finally, Chapter 5 sets pathways for how to foster CBIs’ potential and indicates future research avenues.