Socio-technical transitions in farming: key concepts - Transition Pathways towards Sustainability in Agriculture: Case Studies from Europe - page 26

economic and decisional power dynamics that regime actors are likely to resist since they
tend to perceive them as a loss (Kemp and van Lente, 2011). Transition processes thus need
to be seen as power and relationship transformations (Duineveld et al. , 2009). Transitions
are the result of political processes, and are ultimately legitimized and enforced through the
institutions of the state. Power shifts may be a particular challenge in agriculture, a sector
which is characterized by a high level of governmentality, so that transitions will be shaped
by the sanctions, regulations, and styles of governance in that territory (Marsden, 2013).
Different societal players are involved in contesting and influencing the definition of
what issues are seen as problematic and need to be addressed, and how they should be
addressed. This gives rise to competing models for ordering the future and, depending on
the path taken, different groups will win or lose (Fouilleux, 2000). As such, transitions
involve social struggles such as competition, changing coalitions, and contrasting
aspirations for the spatial, temporal and social distribution of benefits and costs (van der
Ploeg, 2009).
Furthermore, organizations which have vested interests in the current regime may well
coalesce to block policy reform that changes existing institutional and production patterns
(Barbier, 2011). Many of these formal organizations in the agricultural sector tend to have
vested interests in the productivist-modernization approach to agriculture and may be
unwilling, or unable, to assess the relative merits of alternative paradigms (Vanloqueren
and Baret, 2009; Levidow, 2011). Formal organizations are part of the dominant regime
and, thus, either ignore or actively suppress the emergence of niches that may lead to new
regimes in which they might lose their influence on how issues are framed, and on the
approaches that are considered as efficient options for dealing with problems. Even if the
process includes multi-stakeholder involvement and participative designs, these are never
'neutral' and never devoid of power and strategic behaviours (Bickerstaff and Walker,
2005).
Yet interdependencies between actors shift, and power relations alter. New discourses
generate new expectations about the adequacy of regime performance (such as its
sustainability) and contribute to a re-ordering of priorities (Fouilleux, 2000; Muller, 2000).
The status of resources and the regime position of different actors are cast in a new light.
Shifts in relations of power therefore need careful attention in transition studies (Duineveld
et al. , 2009). Indeed, politics is the constant companion of transitions, serving as context,
arena, obstacle, enabler, arbiter and manager of repercussions (Meadowcroft, 2011).
Thus, for a niche to break through and a (potential) transition to emerge, requires niche
actors to develop a political capacity for positioning the niche favourably in the light of
ongoing processes (e.g. environmental or economic crises), mobilizing support, influencing
agendas and re-directing investments and policy commitments away from incremental
repair work and towards a more radical transition. Indeed, regime transformations are an
emerging outcome of resource-interdependent actors negotiating material responses to
future expectations (Stirling and Smith, 2008).
When analysing case studies it is useful to identify the strategies employed by various
actors to instigate a societal change process, and strategies used by regime actors to ensure
stability. Such strategies may include lobbying; formation of networks, coalitions and
alliances; playing the media; use of rhetoric; selective use of the results of scientific
research; funding specific types of research; selecting specific stakeholders for inclusion in
participatory processes; making and implementing laws, formal rules and procedures; or
transforming institutions (Duineveld et al. , 2009).