Annotation
Eco-social policies aim for environmental protection while mitigating inequalities at the same time.
This approach is at odds with market-based regulation and narrowly ecological policies because it
directly modifies the economy to redistribute wealth and power. The course (i) summarizes the
theoretical discussion between eco-social and ecomodernist approaches, (ii) introduces tools of
systems thinking allowing for a holistic approach to sustainability transition, and (iii) employs policy
design with respect to specific policies and places.
Goals
Upon successful completion, students should be able to:
- distinguish the elements giving away ecomodernist or postgrowth logic in specific
interventions and wider theories of change;
- apply systems thinking tools to the challenge of green transition and sustainability policies;
- evaluate the opportunities for and barriers to eco-social policies based on current situation
and path dependencies;
- design a tailored policy intervention based on the presented theory and case studies.
Grading and conditions for completing the course
There is a maximum of 100 points distributed as follows:
a) 40 points for reading and activity during the seminar. There will be a text for every week and
this is an important part of the classes - points are granted for submitting a reflection on the
reading and for participating in the seminar activities or discussions.
b) 40 points for the semestral project (in pairs) presented at the end of the semester. The
outcome is a policy paper proposing a specific intervention along the lines of the discussed
theory. This should be contextualized within a specific country/city/region taking into account its
current state of sustainability transition and finding entry points for eco-social policy thinking.
c) 20 points for the final exam. This is done in the form of a colloquium (2 students and the
examinator). Students will be asked to explain some of the key concepts of the course and
reflect on their relevance/implications. Final exam is not mandatory for those who have more
then 50 points to pass the course (but it can be always taken to improve the grade, only positive
points are granted).
Some topical options for the semestral project include these policy proposals: job guarantee, post-
work, climate dividend, universal basic services, income or wealth caps, caps for raw materials,
extensive ecological agriculture policies, low tech. These predefined topics come with a reading
package that serves as a theoretical intro and can be used as a stepping stone. Local and cultural
context is always picked by the group and contextualization to existing policies, barriers and situation
is a vital part of the project. Coming up with other ideas for transformative eco-social policies is
welcome and necessary guidance will be provided too.
Preliminary semester plan
1. Intro, modernity and the illusion of separation, holistic approach to sustainability.
2. Polycrisis, interdependencies, systems dynamics.
3. Systems thinking tools - the iceberg model.
4. Decolonial approaches to sustainability, extractivism.
5. Dimensions of environmental justice, centre-periphery relations, sufficiency.
6. Critical account of ecomodernist policies - technocracy, problem shifting, popular resistance.
7. Cultural hegemony, participation and community empowerment.
8. Technology, path dependency, the idea of progress.
9. Place-specificity, knowledge production, vernacular practice and understanding.
10. Project presentations.
11. Project presentations.
12. Wrap-up, takeaways and next steps.
Readings
The following works will be used for the weekly readings and as recommended literature for some
of the semestral projects.
Aramendia, E., Nieto, J., Capellán-Pérez, I., Llases, L., de Blas, I., Lago-Aurrekoetxea, R.,Alvarez-
Antelo, D.,& Carpintero, Ó. (2026). Reducing material requirements while decarbonising the Spanish
economy: from a green growth to a postgrowth paradigm. Progress in Energy, 8(2), 025003.
Coote, A. (2021). Universal basic services and sustainable consumption. Sustainability: Science,
Practice and Policy, 17(1), 32-46.
François, M., De Wilmars, S. M., & Maréchal, K. (2023). Unlocking the potential of income and wealth
caps in post-growth transformation: A framework for improving policy design. Ecological
Economics, 208, 107788.
Hornborg, A. (2022). The magic of technology: The machine as a transformation of slavery.
Routledge.
Jehlička, P. (2021). Eastern Europe and the geography of knowledge production: The case of the
invisible gardener. Progress in human geography, 45(5), 1218-1236.
Krenak, A. (2019). Ideas to Postpone the End of the World. Anansi International.
Latour, B. (2012). We have never been modern. Harvard university press.
Meadows, D. (2008). Thinking in Systems. Earthscan
Machado de Oliveira, V. (2021). Hospicing modernity: Facing humanity's wrongs and the implications
for social activism. North Atlantic Books.
Pellizzoni, L. (2022). Post-work and ecology. In Handbook of Critical Environmental Politics (pp. 577-
592). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Soergel, B., Kriegler, E., Bodirsky, B. L., Bauer, N., Leimbach, M., & Popp, A. (2021). Combining
ambitious climate policies with efforts to eradicate poverty. Nature communications, 12(1), 2342.
Tanguy, A., Carrière, L., & Laforest, V. (2023). Low-tech approaches for sustainability: key principles
from the literature and practice. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 19(1), 2170143.
Unti, B. J. (2020). Money, work, and mass extinction: Transformational degrowth and the job
guarantee. University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Zografos, C., & Robbins, P. (2020). Green sacrifice zones, or why a green new deal cannot ignore the
cost shifts of just transitions. One earth, 3(5), 543-546.
Last update: Frantová Michaela, PhDr. (19.05.2026)
