Doris Fuchs

This article identifies ten priorities for future sustainable consumption research and action, prioritising questions of (in)justice. It emerged from a series of interdisciplinary exchanges between sustainable consumption scholars from across Europe, reflecting their expert perspectives and research practices.

This article contributes to current debates on the need and potential for transforming the state in response to socio-ecological crises by focusing on a domain that remains underexplored in the lit...

Rooted in history, with origins tracing back to Athenian democracy in the 5th century BCE, direct democracy has gained renewed attention as a potential solution to the challenges of representative democracy. It is often seen as a means to reduce democratic deficits, enhance citizen participation, and legitimize political decisions. This study reviews recent literature on direct democracy, analyzing 46 articles published between 2016 and 2023 to map key themes and debates. While findings highlight its potential to strengthen participation, empower citizens, and align policies with public preferences, they also emphasize significant risks, including the marginalization of vulnerable groups and susceptibility to elite manipulation.

"Radically sustainable consumption and lifestyles" published on 12 Dec 2024 by Bristol University Press.

We are currently witnessing a paradox in climate governance (CG): despite growing awareness of the socio-biophysical impacts of current lifestyles, there remains a persistent commitment to high-consumption habits with large carbon footprints. Around this paradox, a debate on responsibility for change has developed. Which actor can and should do what to solve the problem? Simultaneously, however, scholars depict trends towards ‘organised irresponsibility’ (Beck, 1988) and individual responsibilisation bound to be ineffective in the context of existing structural challenges. The most likely result of such dynamics is a responsibility ping-pong with actors assigning responsibility to each other, which, in turn, invites the question of how it might be overcome. What other forms of talking about and organising responsibility might exist that could provide an actual basis for transformation change? Disentangling discourses around responsibility in CG, thus, is crucial for enabling a shift in consumption patterns and lifestyles that are compatible with the 1.5° Paris climate target. The present article pursues this objective. Building on a multi-method research approach, including stakeholder laboratories, expert interviews, and Delphi workshops across several European countries, it explores to whom and how European stakeholders in CG, specifically governments, businesses and citizens, assign responsibility, what risks and opportunities are involved, and what indications of a potential for game change exist. The findings uncover a complex web of pre-empted responsibility, which frequently leads to pessimism or ineffective strategies. However, the research also identifies some opportunities for organising a shared, justice-oriented and comprehensive notion of responsibility (Young, 2006).

Scientific evidence highlights the pivotal role for structural change in pursuit of the sustainability transformation. A particular challenge for research on structural aspects of sustainable consumption and lifestyles, however, is the assessment of their impact. Especially quantifying the impact of structural change remains a serious problem. While some forms of structural change can be quantified, like the rate of building renovations, changes in the energy mix at the production level, or trends in access to health care or education, the impact of other changes such as societal narratives about wellbeing, political campaigns on energy technologies or policies, or the abandonment of the growth paradigm defy easy quantification. This article aims to shed light on potential avenues for quantitatively assessing the impact of structural change drawing on insights gained by a group of international and interdisciplinary research consortia funded by the European Union in the area of sustainable consumption, citizenship, and lifestyles research. It delineates strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, foci and blindspots of associated data types. Thereby, it highlights fundamental decisions that need to be made in research designs, but also important aspects to consider in the interpretation of results. Finally, the article highlights the particular challenges related to assessing the impact of deep political and ideational structures.