Economic-financial crisis and sustainability transition: Introduction to the special issue

摘要

This special issue is the outcome of a panel session organized at the third International Sustainability Transitions Conference in Copenhagen (IST 2012, 29-31 August 2012). This session was intended to address the relationship between the current economic-financial crisis and the transition to a sustainable economy. The relevance of incorporating the crisis as a research theme in innovation and transition studies is twofold. First, the crisis, and responses to it proposed by economists and politicians, may create opportunities, threats or barriers for a transition to a sustainable economy. Important questions here are: Are historical crises followed by, or do they even give rise to, major innovations and transitions? What can research on sustainability transitions learn from macroeconomics, sociology, innovation studies and other disciplines that provide insights about the nature and dynamics of current or historical crises? How can we integrate insights from (macro)economics into transitions thinking to make it more complete and effective in terms of policy analysis? And, how does the current crisis affect the feasibility and direction of a transition to a sustainable economy?