Under this heading, I present ideas on the kind of systemic changes that would need to occur to advance towards more sustainable and better societies. As discussed on other pages, major obstacles to environmental integration can be found in political-institutional, political-economic, and socio-cultural systems, as well as in the international and global political-institutional (state) system. Logically, therefore, we will examine system changes that eliminate or overcome these obstacles. Whether this means that new systems need to be created or that existing systems are, or can be, adapted to heed environmental imperatives, is to some extent a matter of labelling. When does a system end and a new one begin? As discussed on other pages, certain features can be viewed as core elements of a system, such as those associated with capitalism. If one agrees with such a characterisation, systems change implies that all, or perhaps most, of those features would need to be changed to qualify as transformational change.
Bringing about such systemic changes is an enormous challenge, and even more so in a deliberate, coordinated, and targeted way. Given the strong links and interactions between political-institutional, political-economic, and socio-cultural systems, a programme of systemic reform can only succeed if changes in all three realms are undertaken in complementary ways. For instance, the development and introduction of sustainable production systems will only work if, at the same time, people’s ideas, behaviour, and practices have integrated the need for such changes and the acceptability or desirability of the alternatives. Therefore, the process of transformation is likely to be difficult and protracted. In part, this may also be because the dominant institutions have created a poverty of imagination that makes it difficult for many people to even consider that systems could be changed without incurring major problems or even disaster. But it is also true that those who do “think outside the box” in many cases do not agree on the kind of changes that are required and/or desirable, and that, consequently, there is no widespread agreement on the kind of societies that are possible and desirable.
For these reasons, a process of transformation will (need to) involve much debate and research, planning as well as trial and error, and feedback loops to find out what works and what does not, all of which will take considerable time. Given these process requirements, there is little merit in providing a blueprint for the institutions of a new society. Nonetheless, based on the nature of the environmental challenge and the systemic obstacles that stand in the way of advancing sustainability, a range of ideas about the kind of changes that I deem essential to break down those obstacles are presented.
It will be beyond the power of individual countries, even the most powerful, to single-handedly change global systems. Global transformation is only possible if a sufficiently large and powerful group of countries agrees on the kind of international order that is desirable, partly because it serves their national interests and partly because of recognised shared or common interests. However, it is highly unlikely that a fundamental change in global systems, aimed at prioritising global environmental protection (not only linked to climate change) and transforming the global political-economic system to align with environmental limits and imperatives, will occur at the global (political-institutional) level. Despite globalisation, the existing state system, dominated by powerful competing states and geopolitical realities, stands in the way of establishing an effective global governance system, let alone a global state or government that would prioritise global sustainability, even if not doing so may lead to the demise of humanity.
Here, I will reflect on the adoption of a bottom-up approach to global transformation aimed at advancing sustainability at the international level. Contrary to the prevailing view, this approach is likely to offer better and more realistic prospects for moving towards a less unsustainable world than the pursuit of a strong, top-down global governance approach (or government). Nonetheless, whether the world as a whole can achieve sustainability remains highly uncertain.
The ideas on systemic transformations are discussed under the following headings: Political Transformation, Economic Transformation, Socio-cultural Transformation, and Global Transformation.