Home » Resource Hub

Transition coalitions: toward a theory of transformative just transitions

From its origins in the labor and environmental justice movements in the United States, the concept of a just transition has travelled globally as a frame to infuse concerns of justice in public responses to escalating environmental crises. However, important gaps remain in terms of understanding the potential of transition efforts to be transformative in shifting the political economic structures that cause, sustain, and deepen injustices. This article asks: what does critical sociological theory of power and social change offer for understanding the features of transformative transition coalitions as compared to those that reinforce environmental, social, and economic inequality? To this purpose, I apply insights from Antonio Gramsci and Karl Polanyi, contemporary scholars who use their theory, and environmental justice scholars to identify the means and form of transformative just transition coalitions. I identify two respective conditions of transformative coalitions: strategic power and embedded relations. Through this lens, I describe four transition coalition types: status quo, impeded, disembedded, and transformative, and discuss related examples.

Resource Details

Author(s): David Ciplet
Date: 8/24/22
Resource Type: Publication
Topic: Organizing

Related resources (by topic)

Got Green

Got Green organizes for environmental, racial, and economic justice as a South Seattle-based grassroots organization led by people of color and low income people. Got Green cultivates multi-generational community leaders to be central voices in the Green Movement in order to…

Grassroots Grants

The Story of Stuff Project established the Grassroots Grants Program in 2017 to support small organizations and groups organizing against water privatization and plastic pollution in the United States. Since it was launched, it has supported 70 grassroots groups with…

Grassroots International

Established in 1983, Grassroots International is a global grantmaking and social action organization that partners with social movements in the Global South and progressive funders in the US. They partner, fund, and work in solidarity with movements and organizations around…

Green New Deal Resource Hub

The Green New Deal Resource Hub continually gathers information to support local efforts and elevate bold solutions for transformative climate justice.

Help us expand the Resource Hub

Share resources that you think would be a good addition to this tool and our team will review them for inclusion in future updates.