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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The multiple challenges of the Anthropocene set a new context for transformative social innovation
towards a form of living and working based on the principles of sustainability. Community-based initiatives
(CBIs), the most visible representatives of the latter, have started to appear worldwide and are
increasingly perceived as a crucial actor in the socio-ecological transition towards sustainability. CBIs are
receiving a growing attention from transdisciplinary academia. Yet, there remains a research blind spot
on the transformative social innovation dynamics in Portugal. This paper addresses this gap by inquiring
into Portugal’s CBI dynamics, appearance, buildup, reach and future transitional pathways. Having
traversed a rapid and significant growth over the last decade, CBIs, their practices and discourses are still
marginalised in Portugal’s public arenas. Therefore, this paper argues, Portuguese CBIs remain an
untapped resource for socio-ecological transitions and institutional innovation in Portugal. We scrutinize
why the latter falter to engage head-on with the public and political spheres and identify key contextual
changes and premises that determine CBIs social innovation potential in Portugal: a) CBIs need to engage
the existent institutional landscape and become politicized change actors in order to sit at key decisionmaking
processes, and b) CBIs’ full potential is unlikely to bloom without favourable institutional
frameworks and policy environments. This paper applies a value-based lens onto social transformation
frameworks and engages in a wider theoretical debate on the role of niche actors, thereby adding to the
existing literature on socio-ecological transitions. Based on an actor-, politics- and governance-centered
approach, we ultimately inquire into Portugal’s CBI’s agency and how it can bring about wider structural
change in a socio-ecological transitions.
Description
Keywords
Socio-ecological transition Community-based initiatives Social innovation
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Mourato, J. M.Bussler, A. (2018). The Politicalization Gap in Social-Ecological Transitions: Lessons from Portugal. ICS Working Papers 1, 2018. Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa
Publisher
Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais