International Summer School of Political Ecology 2024

The need for decarbonisation has been the subject of increased awareness in recent years at all levels and among different groups in society. Critics warn that the pace of the green transition is too slow and lacks sufficient ambition, and there is an increasing demand to take account of the growing inequalities and the need for a just green transition.

Does the current green transition bring public or private benefits? Who is really paying the price for the policies? Additionally, do these measures grant people greater decision-making power over their own lives, or do they simply concentrate this power in the hands of a few? These questions highlight the contradictions, conflicts and inequalities that indicate the need to extend the issue of a green and just transition into the realm of socio-ecological transformation.  

The green transition is a global process that is unfolding in many different forms, with diverse stakeholders seeking to advance their own respective interests. An important factor shaping this transition is the relationship between the public and the private sectors. This divide is a political and ideological marker that has received additional significance with the assertion of neoliberal politics. In everyday debates, this distinction is perceived as the opposition between the free market and the state, with the actual social relations being concealed. The conflation of meanings of state and public thus obscures the ways in which the state promotes private interests, such as through public-private partnerships or by liberalising and strengthening market mechanisms. 

In considering the public versus the private, it is easy to overlook practices and ideas that go beyond this dilemma and which are established beyond statist frameworks and private interests. Community practices are highly diverse in character, but they are united by the involvement and participation of a large number of people, democratic principles and a focus on a collective well-being and environmental sustainability. 

Thus, among the responses to the environmental crisis, an alternative practice of green and just transition from below is also emerging. This can be observed in the rise of energy cooperatives, environmental trade unionism and new forms of solidarity being forged by a number of social movements. It is founded on innovative ideas of the public, on the extension of the commons and on the democratisation of numerous areas of social life.

The consideration of a just public, private or community green transition is therefore really a question of whether we are merely trying to replace fossil fuels with low-carbon energy sources, or whether the aim of a just green transition is to reshape our social fabric to ensure that everyone can live a good life within environmental limits.

REASONS TO JOIN US:

• Earn credits through accredited participation for PhD and Master students (10 ECTS / 6 ECTS).
• Immerse yourself in cutting-edge green transition research with leading international and Slovene researchers and practitioners.
• Develop critical thinking on inequalities of green transition.
• Enjoy summer school without fees.
• Engage in interactive activities in the evenings, as well as discover Ljubljana.

WE ARE PLEASED TO HOST:

• Gareth Dale, professor of political economy at the Brunel University, who studies economic growth and degrowth, climate politics, and technology fetishism;
• Maura Benegiamo, researcher in economic and labour sociology at the University of Pisa, the author of the book “La terra dentro il capitale“;
• Mariano Feliz, professor at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, mostly concerned about recovering the tradition of dependency theory, articulated in feminist and ecological debates;
• Lavinia Steinfort, project coordinator at the Transnational Institute, where she covers (re)municipalisation of public services and a just transition towards energy democracy;
• Danijela Dolenec, (tbc), political scientist and deputy mayor of Zagreb, interested in commons theory and authoritarianism and democratisation in the European semi-periphery;
• Vishwash Satgar, (tbc), senior lecturer in international relations at the University of the Witwaterstand, South Africa, editor of Democratic Marxism book series and lifelong activist.