Defining degrowth

In the first week of September this year, 3000 people gathered in Leipzig for intensive discussions on how to free the global economy from its obsession with endless growth. The Fourth International conference on Degrowth attracted a combination of academics and activists from 74 countries.

Since the term ‘degrowth’ seems odd and mystifying to many people, its votaries have come up with some quick and catchy explanations such as: “Your recession is not my degrowth” and “The rich must de-grow so that the poor may grow”. These phrases are intended to clarify that the degrowth platform is not about shrinking economies, but about creating different forms of economic dynamism which are in sync with two hard truths.

One, there cannot be infinite economic growth on a finite planet. Two, current forms of economic growth are widening disparities, leaving hundreds of millions of people to live in poverty. While there is widespread awareness about these realities, there is no agreement on how to tackle them.

At the very least the degrowth platform aims to counter the dominant idea of our times – namely that economic growth is the only way to end poverty. ‘Degrowthers’ also challenge the notion that ‘green growth’ will stem environmental decline. Their contention is that as long as the emphasis is on growth with environmental concerns accorded lower priority, green growth will not help resolve the global ecological crisis.

Historically, the idea can be traced to the influential “Limits to Growth” report produced in 1972 by the Club of Rome, a global think tank which showed that exponential growth was not possible within a finite eco-system. Contemporary mobilisation around ‘degrowth’ began to take shape in 2008 when about a 100 academics, mostly from western Europe, gathered in Paris to ponder upon the future of the idea of growth.

By coincidence, later that year the global economy went into a tailspin following the financial crisis in the U.S. Subsequently a wider variety of people, in academia and business, have been keen to re-examine concepts and think outside the box. Thus, when the second degrowth conference was convened in Barcelona in 2010, some 300 academics and activists showed up. Two years later when they reconvened in Venice, the attendance jumped to 900. These conferences are facilitated by an academic association called ‘Research and Degrowth’ whose motto is “research and actions to consume less and share more.”

The seriousness of this platform should not be judged by the numbers of participants who show up at these conferences. Its significance depends on the depth and range of intellectual enquiry about questions that have no easy answers. For instance, in what ways will the notion of value have to be redefined in order to be more compatible with the reality of a finite planet? At present everything in the marketplace is valued almost entirely in monetary terms. There is a growing space for the idea of ‘triple bottom-line’ – namely generating value in terms of money, social well-being and environmental good. But for the most part the money dimension dominates the global economy.

A wide variety of panel discussions and papers presented on the degrowth platform attempted to grapple with varied dimensions of such intellectual challenges. According to Frederico Demaria, author of a forthcoming book on degrowth, the concept is at the junction of several streams of thought and has no comprehensive definition as yet.

Degrowth is at the same time an ideology, an economic concept, a framework, a paradigm and a social movement. So far over 100 articles have been published in a variety of journals by scholars who are part of this platform. Sceptics have suggested that for the moment ‘degrowth’ is a political slogan with theoretical implications. Naturally, this term holds little or no attraction for countries where extensive growth is required to ensure that basic needs of the entire population are met with.

This was the point that Sunita Narain, head of the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment emphasises upon when she addressed the Lepizig conference via Skype. Addressing one of the plenary sessions, she stressed upon the need for economic growth in India. The challenge, she said, lies in crafting a model that can meet the needs of all within planetary boundaries. Climate change cannot be tackled merely by reducing carbon emissions, Narain added. Responding to climate change requires that the rich within each nation share growth with the poor, and rich nations do the same in relation to poorer nations. The thunderous applause that followed her words indicated the tenor of this forum.

It was significant that a bulk of the audience was made up of young Germans who are questioning the means by which their affluence has been created. Such a critique of conventional economic growth is far from being mainstream in west European societies. However, the growing interest evoked by successive degrowth conferences indicates that this line of thinking is not quite on the fringes.

Rajni Bakshi is the Gandhi Peace Fellow at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations.

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