Degrowth Futures as Power Struggles: Scenarios of Accumulation, Sabotage, and Resistance

Degrowth Futures as Power Struggles: Scenarios of Accumulation, Sabotage, and Resistance
Vastenaekels, Julien. (2026). Ecological Economics. Vol. 248. October. pp. 1-14. (Article - Journal; English).

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Alternative Locations

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800926001692, https://capitalaspower.com/2026/05/vastenaekels-degrowth-futures-as-power-struggles-scenarios-of-accumulation-sabotage-and-resistance/

Abstract or Brief Description

Efforts to envision post-growth futures and degrowth pathways have multiplied, yet most scenario exercises rarely interrogate how political–economic forces shape their plausibility. This article develops a framework for analyzing degrowth futures through the lens of Capital as Power (CasP). It translates CasP's account of accumulation—organized through capitalization, sabotage, and state–capital entanglement—into a causal loop diagram (CLD). This approach clarifies how degrowth transformations interact with capitalist power through distinct feedback dynamics. Four scenarios are examined: sabotaged transition, where degrowth initiatives are redirected to sustain accumulation; post-growth differential accumulation, where reduced growth remains compatible with scarcity-based profits; contested transformation, where degrowth confronts capital and sparks escalating conflict; and systemic reordering, where confidence in capitalization unravels and capitalist order destabilizes. It shows that reduced growth does not automatically weaken dominant capital, as stagnation and scarcity can sustain differential accumulation. For degrowth, this shows that futures must be conceived as transformations of power relations: constraining the routes through which dominant capital increases its relative power, undermining the restrictions imposed on alternatives, and challenging the confidence capitalists have in the continuity of the order they rule. Degrowth futures may therefore be better understood as struggles over the enforcement or destabilization of capitalist power.

Language

English

Publication Type

Article - Journal

Keywords

accumulation alternative futures capital as power degrowth dominant capital ecology policy power sabotage social change

Subject

BN International & Global
BN Power
BN Policy
BN Production
BN Science & Technology
BN Value & Price
BN Business Enterprise
BN Capital & Accumulation
BN Civilization & Social Systems
BN Conflict & Violence
BN Cooperation & Collective Action
BN Crisis
BN Distribution
BN Ecology & Environment
BN Growth
BN Institutions

Depositing User

Jonathan Nitzan

Date Deposited

18 May 2026 19:17

Last Modified

19 May 2026 20:28

URL:

https://bnarchives.net/id/eprint/889

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