New Article by Mark SwillingA new article by Mark Swilling entitled Economic crisis, long waves and the sustainability transition: an African perspective is in press in the international journal Environmental Innovations and Societal Transitions (see http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2012.11.001).
This article uses long-wave theory to analyse the global economic crisis from a sustainability perspective, a framework that is then used to discuss Africa’s current strategic development challenges. It is argued that the current crisis marks the end of the post-WWII long-term development cycle, the mid-point of the Information Age and possibly the start of the next long-term development cycle. However, this may well be a ‘blocked transition’ due to ‘carbon lock-in’ and the failure to discipline financial capital. The Green Economy discourse is analysed as the potential basis for the next long-term development cycle. However, this will not happen without some decisive state interventions to unlock investments and promote sustainability-oriented innovation systems.