ICS Working Paper Nº1/2018

ICS W O R K I N G P A P E R S 2018 5 1. The grassroots paradox In this section we outline our conceptual framework of inquiry into CBIs against the backdrop of the existing literature on socio-ecological transitions that focuses on niche actors. Through our review, we justify the need to evolve how we look at niche level initiatives in light of socio-ecological transitions (Section 1.1.). Section 1.2. critically reviews the specific role of CBIs (as niche actors) in these transitions. We delimit the concept of “community-based” and guide the reader through selected transition models that forward explanations towards the scale up of practices and discourses towards transition pathways. We review the latter in view to specifically examine the linkages between the niche level and its external societal context. 1.1. Niche solutions for a super-wicked problem? This section reviews multiple main strands of socio-ecological transition literature to frame the debate around the niche level as key change actors in such transitions. The promotion of a large-scale transition towards sustainability can be understood as a super wicked problem (cf. Lazarus, 2008; Levin et al., 2007). These have four key defining features (Levin et al. , 2012): ● Time is running out; ● Those who cause the problem seek to provide a solution (i.e. governments perpetuate a dual behaviour promoting to some extent policy pathways towards sustainability while allowing its very causes [e.g. fossil fuels exploration] to persist); ● The central authority needed to address it is weak or non-existent (i.e. there are no global climate executive authorities); ● Partly as a result, policy responses discount future irrationally, rendering it impossible to secure policy coherence over time. These four problems are symptoms of the policy process around sustainability where existent decision- making and governance solutions, available data, and institutional capacity all fall short of providing game- changing solutions to persistent problems. This issue may spring from an unsustainable path-dependency, insofar as present policy and institutional dynamics may inadvertently hinder the future delivery of any meaningful transition to sustainability policies. To avoid this, Levin et al. (2012) advocate a forward- looking perspective, aimed at setting incremental transition pathways towards sustainability, that in turn trigger a domino effect of behavioural changes, which gather support and outreach over time.