DevISSues Vol. 23 No. 2 Degrowth by International Institute of Social Studies

NOVEMBER 2021 VOL . 23 – NO. 2

The mandala is an age-old symbol

From the Editorial Board ‘Moving out of limbo – and into degrowth?

of wholeness. Our mycelium mandala represents the vegetative part of a fungus. It is known for being full of life, connecting a rapidly developing underground system. It plays a crucial role in the

The pandemic has us thinking about and reacting to the state of limbo we have been living. For many of us there is now a feeling of decompression – we can start going back to ‘normal’! Or can we? And what is normal? What lessons have we learned? Might there be a more sustainable/ balanced path?

decomposition of old forms of life, making nutrients available again for the system and its growing life forms. It is a wonderful symbol for Degrowth, a social movement that ranges from the soil to the soul.

Colophon DevISSues is published twice a year by the International Institute of Social Studies, PO Box 29776, 2502 LT The Hague, the Netherlands

Some seem to think we can/will return to ‘growthism’, but a series of local, regional and national petitions back in 2019-20 said – NO, lets reduce consumption, curtail flying (see the KISS article in this edition) and focus more on things like care, local markets and sustainable processes. Yet aspects of the national and international data on trade, travel and consumption (eg. the property market) bely this. While many informal and specific sectors have suffered a lot, others are booming: it is not a balanced conjuncture! It is thus very apt that ISS hosted the recent 8th International Degrowth Conference. This is the focus of this DevISSues. Attended by over 900 activists/academics and covering a broad range of subthemes such as Feminist Political Ecology/Decoloniality (Harcourt et al), Green New Deals (García et al) and Cultural Politics, it asked questions about the elements we should include (and exclude) within a limit-full, inclusive future. It left lots of fundamental questions, to attendees and to all of us, concerning the world we are making and how we live it. The conference also asked, what is degrowth – a slogan, an amalgam of groups/ ideas or what? Certainly, a suggested paradox of the conference underlined a key feature of a degrowth view – go slow. But how do we do this when there is such an urgent feeling for the need for change?

Tel +31 (0)70 4260 443 or +31 (0)70 4260 419 Fax + 31 (0)70 4260 799 www.iss.nl DevISSues@iss.nl Editor Jane Pocock Editorial Board Lee Pegler, Sunil Tankha, Sandra Nijhof

For me these questions are best answered in the article by the EmboDegrowth Lab. They argue that we should use our embodied knowledge to heal and address our fundamental alienation within capitalism. In practice this means scaling down, slowing down and focusing on decentralized, care-based and democratic processes. As (my old favourite) J. Krishnamurti noted, it is the silent, personal revolution in our habits, ideology and daily practices that makes change.

Design Ontwerpwerk, The Hague Cover image Ontwerpwerk Production De Bink Circulation 5,500 The text material from DevISSues may be reproduced or adapted without permission, provided it is not distributed for profit and is attributed to the original author or authors, DevISSues and the International Institute of Social Studies. ISSN 1566-4821. DevISSues is printed on FSC® certified paper.

Lee Pegler, Chair DevISSues editorial board

Rector’s Blog Moving forward to a new normal Inge Hutter, Rector ISS

It is October 2021 and the ISS building is once again buzzing: with our MA students attending classes or meeting to discuss their research paper; with PhD researchers working on their thesis; with colleagues teaching or writing about their research; with colleagues supporting our activities and … with all of us meeting and greeting each other again in person after such a long of time of online meetings only. The laughter, the enthusiasm in seeing each other again in real life (rather than just a face on a screen), the feeling of happiness that this creates, to connect again … It is a wonderful and happy time. After over one and a half years we are going back to normal. But will we indeed go back to normal, the old normal? Or are we moving forward, to a new normal? Moving from a liminal phase – an inbetween period – of which I spoke in my last blog, into a new stage? Is it a transition? Can it be transformative? The corona crisis has been tough and long; with its lockdowns, curfews, physical distancing and face masks; with learning and working from home. Our physical and mental well-being has been affected, some of us facing illness and even the death of loved ones. Here in The Hague we can now hopefully step into this new normal, whilst taking with us what we have learned in and from the corona crisis.

So, what have I learned over the past year and a half? And what do I want to take with me into this new normal? The corona crisis has made very clear how important my relationships with others are and what it means to feel at home in The Hague, in my neighbourhood. I have re-discovered a feeling of ‘home’, rediscovering how it complements my full and busy working life, providing me with more balance. I have rediscovered playing tennis, being outside in all weathers. I have walked a lot: to the beach, in the woods, and discovered neighbourhoods in The Hague that I did not know. I have learned that online meetings are tiring but can also be inspirational, enabling me to meet members of the global ISS community. I hope to be able to keep these rediscoveries alive, to live a slower life, and create more balance between my work and personal life. And right now, I hope that this happiness in meeting each other in person, in sharing stories and laughter again, will last for a long time! I also wish you happiness and a slow life. And, if you are still deep in the corona crisis, I wish that you too will soon be able to move forward to a new normal.

Contents

Degrowth and Feminist Political Ecology and Decoloniality

Embodying degrowth and turning the movement inside out

ISS news

7 Where are they now?

22 ISS publications

11 Green New Deals: Beyond growth?

23 Student life

20 Staff-student dialogue

Focus on ISS

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Degrowth and Feminist Political Ecology and Decoloniality Some reflections by the Wellbeing Ecology Gender and cOmmunities (WEGO) innovation training network Under the theme ‘Caring Communities for Radical Change’, the 8th International Degrowth Conference brought together nearly 900 activists, academics and artists to discuss how to confront the contradictions between endless economic growth and the ecological boundaries of our planet. These were discussed in eight themes over five days. Wendy Harcourt, Irene Leonardelli, Enid Still and Anna Voss

The 8 conference themes • Feminist Political Ecology & Degrowth • Decoloniality & Degrowth • Anarchism & Degrowth • Rural & Urban Dialogues on Degrowth • Green New Deals & Degrowth • Cultural Politics of Degrowth • Embodying Degrowth • Dutch Social Movements & Degrowth

n 2018, at the 6th International Degrowth Conference in Malmö, Sweden, the Feminisms and Degrowth Alliance (FaDA) was launched to shape the degrowth movement from within. Feminist and decolonial thinking and doing was embedded as a fundamental approach throughout our conference, weaving through many of the discussions and other key conversations. Nonetheless, this is an ongoing process which requires us to continuously and critically question both our political visions and everyday doings as we try to give meaning to the idea of caring communities and radical change. These questions begun in Malmö were matured in The Hague discussions on Feminist Political Ecology (FPE) and Decoloniality throughout the sessions. FPE looked at feminisms, relations of care and wellbeing, with a focus on how we can understand care as central within

degrowth and at the core of our economies and societies. In what way can economies be rearranged in terms of provisioning that care, taking into account health, aging and ability, whilst degrowing? And how do different strands of feminism contribute to degrowth? Our decoloniality discussions aimed to promote coalitions between degrowth movements and with individuals and collectives at the frontline of decolonization struggles in the Netherlands and Europe, with workshops on the process of unlearning and relearning, looking at responsibility, debt and reparations as well as sessions to stimulate alternative imaginations and re-learning with others. The FPE conversation argued how important it was to have a feminist perspective on degrowth. Because a movement for social and environmental needs must include intersectional diversities which need to be analysed in meaningful ways in order to counteract and dismiss colonial, oppressive and exclusive consumption patterns. Because a limit-full, desirable, inclusive future has to be shaped on reciprocity and responsibilities, to care for one another and for the planet. In this regard, the FPE Key Conversation also stressed the importance of learning from communities

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Artistic installations at the Nest in The Hague. © Anna Voss that are already practicing degrowth; communities, movements, collectives that refuse to align themselves to the logic of capitalism and growth and of centralized oppressive market-oriented states; communities that are fighting every day for environmental and social justice, or simply for their own well-being and survival on earth. The culminating plenary on ‘Feminist Political Ecology Perspectives on Degrowth’ was a dialogue between Giovanna Di Chiro, Stefania Barca and Seema Kulkarni about their work on environmental and climate justice, gender, care and degrowth conceptually and in situated communities in the US, Brazil and India. Facilitated by Panagiota Kotsila and Ilenia Iengo, the speakers shared what it meant to engage carefully with communities whose territories are conflicted by ecological exploitation. As a core theme in FPE, this also means understanding how culture and gender roles shape these communities and to decolonize our ways of creating kinship to avoid patronizing the land and its people as we strive to build solidarity connections. Bodies, territories, care and human and more-than-human wellbeing are intrinsically intertwined, and our plenary gave a glimpse of how an FPE perspective can help embed these

concepts within degrowth scholarship and activism. Decoloniality conversations introduced the importance of diversifying the degrowth movement. The discussion focused on the need for deeper engagement with colonial histories, not just theoretically but also materially, which means tackling questions of

how the hegemonic way of living and being takes away space and possibility for other ways of being and living.

‘Bodies, territories, care and human and more-than-human wellbeing are intrinsically intertwined …’

The Decoloniality conversation pointed out that it is also important to practice caution in the use of terms like care and decoloniality, particularly in spaces of white privilege. We need to question what actions the use of these concepts entail and what happens when these terms are used within forms of self-representation. Reflexivity is important here but is it enough? To avoid appropriation, cooption and paying lip-service to the important thinking and praxis of decoloniality, perhaps it is helpful to come back down after this conference and start from our own situated, local, yet networked place and practice to think about these huge, globally entangled and often uncomfortable questions.

reparations and mechanisms for the redistribution of wealth, as well as challenging the sustained silencing of these histories and epistemologies from the South in pedagogic practice. This involves engaging with existing and ongoing work on how global economic structures are deeply racialized and colonial. Such sustained engagement will help the movement to better understand

The plenary on ‘Decoloniality and Degrowth: Resonating and Listening’ invited us to think-feel beyond Western academic forms of knowing and experience decolonial and anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-patriarchal ways of being-in-common by cultivating active listening. Listening to the knowledges inherited in stories, music, art, oral traditions and other-wise practices of inhabiting territories and cultures is a

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first step to really face and counter the continuing structural and cultural effects of colonialism. As part of the Arts and Culture programme, Anna Voss, Irene Leonardelli and Enid Still organized a small film festival on ‘feminist and decolonial naturecultures to inspire degrowth imaginaries’. They selected 10 documentaries that were originally showcased in the Rising Gardens Film Festival 2021 by the campaign One Billion Rising South Asia and the Indian feminist network Sangat and Kriti Film Club. The audio-visuals featured stories of women entangled in ecological realities which attend to feminist and decolonial ideas, practices and resistances. As film maker Nandan Saxena expressed during our panel discussion on how film as an art form can help us imagine liveable futures, sharing small-situated stories is like planting ‘seeds of thought’. The vibrant Arts & Culture programme made sure that the conference also provided spaces to engage and experience degrowth creatively. The cultural programme ranged from film screenings and debates, theatre and music performances, weaving workshops, an immersive forest walk, exhibitions and artistic installations. Outside the cultural venue NEST in The Hague, an earth-built sitting area

‘… how to reconcile degrowth’s celebration of slowness with the sense of urgency and the need to address the multiple crises our planet is facing.’ provides a space for the surrounding neighbours to meet and chat, and a pigeon tower created out of recycled oyster farms’ mycelium waste is now growing fresh mushrooms. The conference in The Hague may be over but many of the participants are still processing, digesting and reflecting, asking: How to continue these rich and diverse discussions? In all their diversity, did the amalgam of sessions and perspectives engage enough with the concept of degrowth as such? How to grow the degrowth movement and make it speak to those who are not already working on building alternatives? How to reach beyond academic circles and localized self-organized grassroots initiatives? Whose voices are missing in our discussions and imaginaries of radical change? How can feminist political ecology and decoloniality engage further with degrowth, analytically and practically? One apparent paradox that was raised during the closing plenary was how to

reconcile degrowth’s celebration of slowness with the sense of urgency and the need to address the multiple crises our planet is facing. Don’t we have to speed up to radically change the destruction of the ecosystems and climate that sustain us and to tackle the deep socioeconomic injustices that were only made more visible by COVID-19? Thinking of Donna Haraway’s idea of ‘staying with the trouble’, it is important to recognise the inherent contradictions of any social and political movement or network. And to cherish that degrowth embraces so many different perspectives, voices and scales of action, ranging, e.g., from anarchist system-subversive activism to trying to influence the policy arena. Maybe degrowth is an umbrella for a diversity of approaches, maybe it is just one amongst many alternative movements. As activist and artist Jay Jordan, during the Cultural Politics plenary, invited us to ‘Start from where you are and what you can do, and most importantly, have joy in doing it!’

Left: The FPE plenary with Wendy Harcourt and Anna Voss on stage, and Panagiota Kotsila and Ilenia Iengo facilitating the debate online with Giovanna Di Chiro, Stefania Barca and Seema Kulkarni. Carlotta Cataldi graphically captured the discussion in her live-drawing. © Irene Leonardelli. Right: Decolonality plenary with a musical performance by speaker Max de Ploe and Mame N’Diack. © Anna Voss

ISS Alumni

Where are they now?

Leonel Roberto Rodríguez Casasbuenas Study programme Social Policy and Master in Social Sciences Year of graduation 1972 and 1973 Country of origin Colombia Current occupation I am retired now. After ISS, I taught at universities in Colombia and Brazil. Later, I worked for 25 years with UNHCR. What made your time at ISS special? Being immersed in a rich cultural and academic interchanging context and enjoying favourable conditions for studying. What is your most memorable moment at ISS? A month-long field research visit to Yugoslavia to assess the ‘self-management’ system of participation of different productive sectors. What does ISS mean to you now? Excellent friends. We hope to celebrate our 50th ISS anniversary. Admiration for this research and debating centre highly committed to today’s global problems. Finally, satisfaction with its deserved international recognition.

Swati Rao

Martin Dacles

Stella Vásquez

Study programme Mundus MA in Public Policy Year of graduation 2017 Country of origin India Current occupation Lead, Communications and Advocacy at the Centre for Civil Society What made your time at ISS special? All the amazing people I met from all over the globe. It was my first time living outside India, so being in such a multicultural environment gave me opportunities for immense personal and professional growth. What is your most memorable moment at ISS? International Day remains my favourite memory to date. Sharing my culture and food with so many people and learning about theirs was quite an experience. What does ISS mean to you now? My window to the world.

Study programme MA in Development Studies, Major in Agrarian, Food and Environment Studies with specialization in Environment and Sustainable Development Year of graduation 2019 Country of origin Philippines Current occupation Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Coordinator for Middle East with the French Red Cross What made your time at ISS special? The fact that you get the opportunity to learn about the world through the different cultures and lived experiences of your colleagues. What is your most memorable moment at ISS? The protests we joined, the parties we celebrated and the workshops we hosted. And who could forget ISS International Day, showcasing diverse cultures through performances and cuisines. Priceless! What does ISS mean to you now? ISS is my home away from home. The institute not only provided me with the technical grips and handles on critical development studies, but also an entire community of practitioners, scholars and activists who believe in social justice.

Study Programme National Development Year of graduation 1972 Country of origin Colombia Current occupation Retired What made your time at ISS special? I found the Dutch to be a very and singular culture. It is a small country but is packed with flowers, windmills, cheeses, Amsterdam canaIs and the greatest art of the world. What is your most memorable moment at ISS? Every moment was great. This tiny nation has a huge influence in the world and every day at ISS surprised me in every sense. The best thing about ISS was meeting friends from all over the world and sharing such a valuable part of my existence with them. What does ISS mean to you now? I gained greater understanding and admiration for other people and their culture. My experience expanded my academic horizons, teaching me new languages and skills, and building my confidence and resilience. The Netherlands is a country with great agricultural development that has much to teach to the word in relation to all the challenges of global warming.

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EmboDegrowth Lab.

Why does the ideology of growth, productivity and competition (hereafter ‘growthism’) have its grip on so many of us? How are we socialized into it and what are its psychological costs? What are the possible dimensions of nonalienated experience? What could the degrowth movement propose to counteract these problems? These are some of the questions that guided the Embodying Degrowth thematic stream that our collective organized at the 8th International Degrowth Conference ‘Caring Communities for Radical Change’. We offer a contribution to the ongoing endeavour of exploring them.

In alphabetical order: Daniela Calmon, Julien-François Gerber, Kiggell, Corinne Lamain, Oona Morrow, Yukari Sekine, Winne van Woerden. (Contact: gerber@iss.nl)

Embodying degrowth and turning the movement inside out

ur starting point is the recognition that growthism is central to capitalist modernity, and not only is it destroying the planet, but it is also making us sick. Many of us live in the ‘burnout society’, a society boosted by fossil fuels that alienates us from each other and from deeper connections with ‘nature’ and the cosmos. Many of us have also unconsciously internalized this ideology of growth that tells us that ‘more is better’. We are shaped by capitalist institutions like waged work and industrial schooling which subvert our desires and make us ‘achievement subjects’ (Han, 2015). But growthism is not restricted to the business sector. It is also deeply entrenched in academia, with its growthist metrics like impact factors, publication pressures and funding competitions. Many of us have had no choice but to follow the growth imperative. But this is not the only story. We seek to recognize and amplify practices based on post-growth values to organize societies in a different way, learning from psychoanalysts, philosophers, activists, people of faith, healers, anthropologists of science, abolitionists, among others.

From transition to transformation The language of a ‘degrowth transition’ is useful for mobilizing people and their collectives around policy objectives, but it retains an image of expert political actors who will ‘transition’ us from one state to another. We offer an alternative theory of change that aims for a ‘degrowth transformation’, or deeper

Shivani Kaul, Thomas

shifts in ideology and daily practices. It will not be enough to solely focus on changing policies and institutions; it is essential to embody the transition and its deeper meanings in a personal way as well. By this, we mean that transformational ideas begin and are enacted through our bodies in their multiple layers and relationships to others. Contemporary degrowth movements and authors have emphasized systems change by focusing mostly on changing production relations or reducing resource throughputs. We argue that for a degrowth transformation to flourish, dismantling those systems and regenerating alternatives also need intrapersonal, interpersonal and transpersonal work. Learning from transformative justice visionaries such as adrienne maree brown and Mia Herndon, we maintain that this biomimetic ‘emergent strategy’ is the foundation for radical politics to remain regenerative over time (brown, 2017).

From talking to embodying At some level, ‘embodying degrowth’ simply means to enact the change in our own daily practices and activities. There are many ways that we can integrate

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‘We seek to recognize and amplify practices based on post-growth values to organize societies in a different way’ ‘caring commoning practices’ in our everyday lives, such as collectively stewarding essential needs like food, energy, housing and care. Here, the embodiment of degrowth is a way of closing the temporality gap between longer-term visions of structural change and here-and-now prefigurative action. Important questions become: what do we want to embody on a daily basis and in our activism? Do we (unconsciously) embody a productivist mentality or do we (consciously) try to align our being and actions with the future we want to build? Does our activism focus on theoretical critiques and on state policies in a purely intellectual way, or do we

seek to ‘walk the talk’ via daily embodied activities? Feminist scholars long ago questioned the distinction between the political and the personal, pointing out that subjectivities are always also constructed by objective social structures and ideologies. The blurred boundaries between ‘subjectivity’ and ‘objectivity’ led the American philosopher of science Donna Haraway to develop a feminist epistemology that emphasizes the embodied, situated nature of all knowledge, as opposed to the ‘conquering gaze from nowhere’ of so-called objective science (Haraway,

1988: 581). Embodied and situated objectivity becomes a salutary antidote against the disembodied universalistic narratives of much of economics, especially when the latter promotes growthism and productivism as the royal road to happiness.

From curing to healing – hints along the way At another level, to ‘embody degrowth’ means to heal multiple forms of alienation in order to allow broader and deeper changes to happen. Alienation refers here to the experience of being cut from our bodies, our souls, our ‘species-being’ (to use Marx’s term), as well as from others, ecologies and the more-than-human worlds. The American ecopsychologist Theodore Roszak argued that personal, social and ecological healing always go together. He noted that the psychotherapist’s role should primarily be ‘that of raising questions about our [societal] standard of sanity’; he added that this ‘is an extremely important role, as much for what it might serve to downplay (careerist pressures, money, and status) as for what it might emphasize (our abiding need for wilderness, tranquillity, or animal companions)’ (Roszak, 1992:

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311). For him, both the therapists and the ecologists ‘offer us a common political agenda for the good of the planet, for the good of the person. It is simply stated: Scale down. Slow down. Democratize. Decentralize’ (ibid.). This, in a nutshell, is the degrowth project. Returning to the body, we would like to remember the Austrian Marxist body therapist Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) who linked the body and radical politics in ways that are still relevant today. He argued that true emancipation can only take place through bodily and politicoeconomic liberation because oppressive systems such as patriarchy and trauma expressed in the body tend to foster each other. His work has parallels with Black feminist works and the Embodied Social Justice movement, which merges somatics with activism by exploring the intersection of oppression and embodiment. Today, the German philosopher Hartmut Rosa echoes aspects of this tradition by placing the body at the centre of critical theory and in dialogue with degrowth. Rosa advanced the experience of ‘resonance’ as a way of encountering the world, that is, people, things, nature and life as such (Rosa, 2019). Resonance has a physical quality (‘vibes’) and engages the body, the heart and the mind; it is always interactive but also elusive. Rosa sees resonance as the culturally specific opposite of alienation. He argues that capitalism is particularly counterproductive in this respect; the growth-addiction of capitalism hinders resonance by generating constant acceleration and chronic exhaustion. In contrast, degrowth values of slowness, solidarity, horizontality, conviviality and simplicity might facilitate and catalyse the flourishing of resonance.

‘Embodying degrowth is … about reencountering joy’ The work of American author and activist Charles Eisenstein (e.g. 2013) echoes Rosa’s efforts. By expounding the ways we are intimately interconnected, Eisenstein puts forward an alternate theory of change where small acts of kindness, courage and self-trust are able to shift culture’s underlying narrative away from a ‘worldview of separation’ towards what he calls ‘interbeing’. This emphasis on interdependence is a strand that runs throughout many practices and spiritual traditions, including, naming just one, Vietnamese monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh’s engaged Buddhism (e.g. 1987).

The conversation continues Valuing the potential of everyday practices does not mean discrediting the importance of traditional collective action or even the transformative power of negative feelings such as anger or revolt. It means that we recognize that

burned out and shell-shocked people often cannot change the world, and that ‘changing the world’ (and building new ones) happens also in the here and now. British psychoanalyst Sally Weintrobe (2021) brought up the importance of grieving in moving beyond cognitive dissonance and paralysis when facing the enormity of the current environmental and social crises. At the same time, embodying degrowth is not just about acknowledging and confronting our collective and individual pains – and what they tell us. It can also be – and is – about reencountering joy, celebration and fulfilment beyond the constrictive options of alienated work and alienated pleasure. When proposing this, we do also recognize that certain parts of the psychological, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of communities have been co-opted by neoliberalism and the far right, and that ‘wellness’ spaces and practices are highly commodified (Purser, 2019). Being able to question growthism in our individual lives is also often seen as the luxurious privilege of the few. More than anything, these phenomena highlight the necessity of building radical alternatives which foster collective and welcoming spaces for healing and reconnecting. The degrowth movement has both the potential and a mandate to go beyond a distributional and ecological critique of GDP growth, and to include a broader reflection on what constitutes an existentially meaningful mode of being interdependent with the planet. If anything, the objective of ‘outer’ degrowth carries within it an invitation for ‘inner’ regrowth of relationships. Full references are available in the online version of this article at www.devissues.nl

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Green New Deals:

Gustavo García López,* Diego Andreucci, Corinne Lamain, Daniel Boston, Selj Balamir and Julia Karch

Beyond growth? I

n the past few years, the Green New Deal (GND) has increasingly attracted attention from various eco-social movements around the globe – antiracist, indigenous, climate justice, ecosocialism, ecofeminism and degrowth – as a programmatic framework for a rapid and comprehensive transformation of our societies that simultaneously addresses the climate crisis and systemic social inequalities. As part of the 2021 International Degrowth Conference (24-28 August), we organized a thematic stream on Green New Deals, as a space to critically engage with this framework in conversation with degrowth and to explore tensions, convergences and spaces for mutual learning and allyship between these. Central to this was a plenary roundtable moderated by Gustavo García López, which hosted a group of internationally-recognized leaders working on transformative approaches to GNDs: Elizabeth Yeampierre (Co-chair, Climate Justice Alliance and Executive Director, UPROSE), Danielle Hirsch (Executive Director, Both Ends), Harpeet Kaur Paul (Tipping Point UK organizer) and Giorgos Kallis (co-founder, Research & Degrowth collective).

‘Inspired by a photograph of a woman working in a factory during WWII. This twenty first century Rosie the Riveter harkens back to both the magnitude of the obstacles we have faced and our ability to overcome them.’ © Molly Crabapple

The panellists agreed that a GND is an insufficient but urgently necessary measure that pushes the boundaries of the current capitalist growth system. A transformative GND should centre social and environmental justice from local to

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global levels, and have communityorganizing as the basis of political power.

Visions and principles of transformative Green New Deals The history of the GND shows variegated ideological underpinnings which persist to this day. The term has been embraced by neoliberal and neo-Keynesian forces, as in the European Union’s ‘Green Deal’, focused on ‘green growth’. Yet scholars and activists from different movements are appropriating the concept and making their own variants for ‘no-growth’, ecosocialist, feminist, indigenous, frontline community and grassroots GNDs. The panellists began by reflecting on their vision for a truly transformative GND. Kaur Paul pointed to environmental and climate justice, as well as antiglobalization struggles, as inspirations for her work on GND. Against extractivist visions of the GND, the 1.5°C target should be met with fairness and equality within and between countries, and through alternative value systems to fulfil basic needs within planetary boundaries. For the UK, this would mean rapid decarbonization coupled with trillions for climate debt payments, moving from the logics of competition to cooperation, lowering levels of consumption and developing systems of health, care and housing that can manage the impacts of climate change now. Hirsch argued that, however incomplete, the GND could be a necessary instrument to reduce emissions as quickly as possible. She called for pragmatism, recognizing that we may not like some elements. The GND demands eliminating public subsidies for fossil fuels and perverse incentives in agriculture, coupled with ecosystem restoration and community-based green infrastructures. She advocated for other measures to evaluate progress: for instance, the percentage of women and people of colour employed, and the ecosystem benefits of practices such as agroecological farming. Kallis highlighted that the current, progressive version of the GND has been

‘A GND [is] an insufficient but urgently necessary measure that pushes the boundaries of the current capitalist growth system’ a significant advance in the public discourse, linking the climate crisis to social justice; but that this will not be enough without systemic reductions in consumption and production. He reflected on how the urgency of immediate transition calls for more radical responses. We need to put the GND in place now, and for that we need to emphasize fossil fuel divestment and phase-out. The challenge is combining urgent action with the ‘slower’ deliberative and accountable processes of direct democracy. Yeampierre stressed the intersectionality of climate justice and just transitions. Questions of who leads, who speaks, who sets the agenda, are crucial in a justice approach. She observed that, in the US, the GND was initially a ‘grasstops’ effort that did not include grassroots climate justice movements. The GND must be centred on those frontline communities which are impacted, not those which can profit from it. The just transition framework proposes a shift from an extractive to a regenerative

economy - stopping the current economy while building the new. This transition demands relocalizing production, democratizing wealth and the workplace, advancing ecological restoration, revaluing indigenous knowledges and traditions, and rejecting false solutions such as carbon sequestration.

Intersections between Green New Deals and degrowth Critical commentators have asked important questions about whether the GND is ultimately capable of overcoming the colonial and growth-fixated tendencies of capitalist development. Panellists reflected on the convergences and tensions between GND and degrowth frameworks, the possibilities for GNDs beyond growth and the potential for mutual learning between pro-GND and degrowth movements. Kallis argued we should be careful not to shoot down potential allies: there is a political constituency for a GND without growth, yet a lot of intellectual energy is

Hundreds gather in San Francisco with the youth led Sunrise Movement to call on House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to support the formation of a Select Committee to advance a Green New Deal to address Climate Change. © Peg Hunter

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wasted on hypothetical debates while the fossil fuel industry still rules the day. Most economists posit that growth is necessary for decarbonizing and reducing inequities, yet growth is central to the climate and inequality crises. Questions on how to pay for the GND are politically more difficult, as this requires taxation, redistribution and reallocating significant funds from, for example, the military. Degrowing here may be easier to agree on, but talking about other sectors, aviation for instance, is trickier.

recognizing that we – the people – have the power. We need to build solidarity across sectors, for instance, demanding just compensation for workers in a soon-to-be-closed factory.

Hirsch argued that it would not be that difficult to finance a GND. In the Netherlands, for example, subsidies for fossil fuels amount to €17.5 billion per year, while the transition to a fossil-free system is estimated to cost €6 billion, including compensation schemes. She stressed that the way we value things also defines what we mean by growth; thus, creating alternative metrics can help to shift away from the growth imperative.

Kallis argued that we need to use direct action to stop new fossil projects and start closing existing ones. We need to build power and support for direct action and civil disobedience, and the right to protest. Yet while society at large is worried about the climate crisis, there are too few people mobilized and it is not clear where the tipping point for mass popular support will be.

For Yeampierre, the challenge of overcoming the (growth-based) capitalist system is committing to a longer-term transition when you cannot guarantee ‘bread on the table’ and when you cannot show what the alternatives look like. If you want workers’ support, for example, you need to ensure their survival with a concrete vision. Kaur Paul stressed the need to look at this question at the global level: 50% of emissions come from 10% of the world population, and this stark inequality fundamentally needs to change. We need a positive vision of degrowth in the global North that makes space for ‘growing’ livelihoods and improved wellbeing in the global South. This demands redefining ‘a good life’: sharing of essential services, having more time to connect and enjoy a good quality of life, rather than an exploitative job.

Shared strategies for achieving transformative GNDs Fighting for GNDs beyond growth confronts us with important challenges

Hirsch emphasized the need to walk the corridors of power and engage with policy-makers to achieve reforms. A key strategy for Hirsch is transforming financial infrastructure with more democratic decision-making and shifting money to the right places, with public financing setting the tone.

‘This image illustrates the relationship between creating alternatives, aligning with nature and opposing the forces of oppression and destruction.’ © Ricardo Levins Morales related to vision, strategy, positionality and scales of action: for instance, tensions between changes within the system, versus changing the system; and between national and transnational scales of action in the uneven playing field between ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ regions. The panellists thus addressed shared strategies for enacting a transformative GND that transcends colonial and growth logics. Yeampierre argued that climate change will disrupt governance, so we need to imagine what co-governance looks like. Direct action and protests need to be combined with education, arts/culture and learning resilience to help people make connections and uplift the movement. Frontline communities are leading with solutions, and Yeampierre stressed that this needs public investment at a local scale. Also, the white descendants of privilege need to step up, as many white allies did by putting their bodies on the line during the Black Lives Matter uprisings. Along similar lines, Kaur Paul added that centring those communities at the frontlines of the climate crisis means

Conclusions Beyond the plenary, several conference sessions engaged with the GND. These included political ecology perspectives outlining new energy and extractive frontiers born out of mainstream GNDs; discussions around the current EU policy landscape in sectors ranging from agriculture to finance and aviation; novel legal approaches to affect change; and workshops on re-thinking the labour market and envisioning designs that are not dependent on ‘the endless jobs and growth treadmill’. This showed the diversity of approaches to GND-degrowth linkages. At the same time, there was a shared vision of alternative GNDs based on solidarity, operating from the grassroots, and in alliance with climate justice and other movements, to build the political power needed for transformative change.

* García-López’s participation had the support of the Foundation for Science and Technology, under the Multiannual Funding of the R&D Unit (UIDP/50012/2020).

ISS news

ISS news alumni awards EUR events PhD projects research staff students

Looking to the future ISS During our 69th Dies Natalis we explored our current vision and the future of our teaching, research and cooperation for global impact, with an examination of decolonizing knowledge, technology and development, and social enterprising.

Best Paper award to ISS alumna alumni

ISS alumna appointed UN Assistant SecretaryGeneral for Africa alumni

ISS alumna Diane Irankunda won the award for her paper in the Journal of African Business entitled 'Financial Inclusion of Urban Street Vendors in Kigali'.

Martha Pobee from Ghana graduated from ISS in 1988. She has worked for over 30 years in international affairs and diplomacy.

Register for the 20222023 MA programme teaching Join us at ISS – registration to the MA programme in Development Studies is now open.

ISS news

ISS alumna Ghana’s first woman ambassador to USA alumni ISS alumna Hajia Alima Mahama was appointed in July. She received her MA in Development Studies from ISS, specializing in Regional Development Planning.

KidsRights Index 2021 research

ISS alumn appointed Sierra Leone’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation alumni David Francis graduated from ISS in 1995. His appointment to the Sierra Leone foreign office follows more than 25 years of experience in international academia, policy advice and consultancy.

Inaugural lectures by Prince Claus Chair holders event

The negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children across the world is far worse than first feared with 1.5 billion youngsters being excluded from education. This is one of the findings of the KidsRights Index 2021, that was released in June.

In June, professors Gustavo García López and Seye Abimbola gave their inaugural lectures as Prince Claus Chair holders. They presented their research on the climate crisis (García López) and justice and equity in global health (Abimbola).

ISS alumna appointed President of the Parliament of Costa Rica alumni

ISS alumna to lead Chile’s constitutional review alumni

Silvia Hernández Sánchez graduated from ISS in 2004. She was a congresswoman and Former Deputy Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy and had previously held several roles in the public sector and with NGOs.

ISS alumna and Mapuche leader, Elisa Loncón was elected president of the Constituent Convention of Chile, which will reform the country's Constitution for the first time in over 40 years.

New books Urban planning, management and governance in emerging economies This book, edited by Dr Jan Fransen, Professor Meine Pieter van Dijk and Professor Jurian Edelenbos investigates how approaches to urban management are shifting, indicating that urban governance is becoming increasingly important in dealing with issues such as climate change and social and economic inequalities in cities.

Authoritarian populism and the rural world Jointly authored by researchers from the ISS research project 'Commodity & land rushes and regimes: Reshaping five spheres of global social life’, this book reflects on the rural origins and consequences of the emergence of authoritarian and populist leaders across the world.

ISS news

In Memoriam Gideon Badagawa Alumn Gideon Badagawa from Uganda passed away in June. Gideon was the executive director of the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda. He graduated from ISS in 1995, specializing in Development Economics. Saul Banda Saul Banda from Zambia passed away in July. Saul was president of ISS student association, Scholas. He graduated from ISS in 2008. George Irvin Emeritus Professor George Irvin passed away on the weekend of 14 August. He had worked for many years as a development economist at ISS. Lovemore Munlo Former student Lovemore Munlo from Malawi passed away in August. Lovemore participated in the International Law and Development programme. The thoughts of the whole ISS community go out to their families and loved ones.

PhD defences PhD

Cynthia Embido Bejeno 31 October 2021 On the frontlines: Peasant women and land reform struggles in the Philippines

Natacha Bruna 8 October 2021 Extractivism, rural livelihoods and accumulation in a ‘ClimateSmart’ world: The rise of green extractivism

Anggun Susilo 30 September 2021 The Indonesian national program for community empowerment (PNPM) - Rural: Decentralization in the context of neoliberalism and World Bank policies

Zhen Lu Zhen Lu 24 June 2021 The role of local governments in emerging regional business systems: A comparative analysis of Zheijiang and Yunan Provinces

Alumna donates pension to fund ISS scholarship alumni An anonymous alumna has donated her old age pension to the ISS Alumni Fund to help finance an international student to study at ISS.

Opening 2021 MA programme teaching 146 students, 47 nationalities and ranging from 21 to 42 years of age. This is the new MA in Development Studies batch. Now well into their first term, our new students are able to follow live teaching and interact in person with fellow students and faculty.

Focus on ISS

Reconsidering academic air traffic in the era of climate change: ISS experiences

ISS climate group - KISS1 The COVID-19 pandemic reduced air traffic in a way that was previously thought impossible. Our ecological footprint from air travel reduced to almost zero. What will our academic mobility look like when things gradually return to normal after the pandemic? Will it be business as usual again, will there be a catch-up reaction, or will we markedly change how we travel? How viable are online alternatives for conferences, fieldwork or PhD defences? Findings from a survey and Focus Group Discussion amongst ISS staff and PhD researchers sheds light on these questions.

evelopment studies scholars have actively studied implications of climate change, as well as adaptation and mitigation strategies, in societies across the world. They have actively been involved in advocacy for climate action. More recently, the realization arose that we can also very directly combat climate change by reducing carbon emissions related to our academic endeavours. In March 2019, Dutch scholars wrote a letter calling for climate action to reduce universities’ ecological footprint. This letter2 was subsequently endorsed by all Dutch universities. Whereas considerable action has been taken to bring down emissions by campus facilities, emissions from academic mobility have not

Some members of the KISS team.

Focus on ISS

significantly reduced, an inventory3 of Dutch universities’ climate action shows. As flights account for a considerable part of the total CO2 emissions of Dutch universities, debates and calls for action now put the spotlight on academic air traffic. In late 2020, the Dutch Young Academy issued a report entitled Flying high but flying less,4 based on an inventory of the flight policies of various Dutch universities. A post on the ISS blog BLISS argued that ‘it’s time for flying to become the new smoking’;5 another post6 discussed whether the travel restrictions which were in place during the lockdowns will induce a longerlasting change in flying behaviour. The ISS climate group, KISS (Klimaat (=Climate) at ISS), aims to bring down ISS’ CO2 footprint and stimulate awareness about the issue. In June and July 2021, KISS conducted a survey and a focus group discussion to explore how ISS scholars have experienced online alternatives to flying and to what extent these can be considered realistic possibilities for the future. The survey covered a wide array of academic activities such as conference participation, PhD defences, job selection and fieldwork. Conferences. 60% of the respondents felt that the online conferences they

participated in constituted a reasonable alternative. In terms of the value of online conferences, the reductions in ecological footprint scored highest, followed by time and cost savings. Respondents also appreciated the higher level of inclusiveness of online conferences. For instance, the bi-annual EADI conference hosted in July by ISS in an online format, attracted many more participants from the global South than previous ones. Online lectures facilitate the inclusion of alumni, as participant or speaker, in ISS events. Likewise, the predominantly online format of conferences in the past 1.5 years has allowed ISS scholars to attend more conferences than would have been possible otherwise. A major downside of the online format is the lack of informal conversations. Another disadvantage is that it is more difficult to stay focused and remain involved. Finally, there were concerns whether participating in online conferences will generate sufficient visibility to advance one’s career, which is especially important for younger scholars. For example, some large academic conferences in the US also function as venues for job interviews and a study amongst academic staff in Australia (Nursey-Bray et al. 2019) found a marked ‘fear of not flying’,7 related to

the perceived risk of losing out on opportunities to make oneself visible at the relevant international academic events. The 2019 MA study8 by ISS student Lara Vincent also points in this direction. A key question for the coming period will be whether the advantages of being more inclusive, getting input from a wider range of participants and the advantage of being less time-consuming and costly, will be outweighed by the advantages of in-person conferences. PhD defences. Almost half of the staff members who responded see online defences as a reasonable alternative and another third are neutral. In the postlockdown period, ISS is encouraging hybrid defences with discussants from outside the EU attending online.

Online PhD defences reasonable alternative: staff members' evaluation

11%

16% 42%

26%

Online conferences: high value for 100 90

∞ Strongly agree ∞ Agree ∞ Neutral ∞ Disagree ∞ Strongly disagree

Note: Only 1 PhD researcher responded to this question, therefore the chart only includes staff members.

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

footprint saved

time saved

∞ PhD researcher ∞ Staff member Note: The diagram includes the combined values 7-10 on a 1-10 scale

costs saved

PhD researchers mentioned that an online defence can be attractive for candidates whose family members cannot come to The Hague, allowing them to attend the ceremony virtually. In the focus group discussion, PhD researchers indicated that a flexible policy would be best. Job interviews. Less than a third of the staff members and PhDs felt that the

Focus on ISS

Online selection committees: similar quality impression of candidates 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Less

Yes

∞ PhD researcher ∞ Staff member online selection of colleagues generates a similarly good impression of candidates compared to live meetings. The reduced effectiveness of non-verbal communication seems particularly problematic here. Fieldwork. Primary data collection is probably the sphere in which online formats most frequently fall short of the desired aims. As one of the participants in the focus group discussion noted, within development studies, fieldwork in faraway places constitutes our ‘lab’ and is essential for research. A PhD researcher remarked that online interviews were a reasonable alternative to live interviews, particularly if the interviews are formal. More informal interviews, or more difficult to reach groups, make this option less suitable.

Towards solutions: hybridity, ground transport and ‘mindful travel’ Overall, the research shows that the perceived viability and desirability of online alternatives varies markedly across the various academic tasks/activities. Replacing live PhD defences with an online format constitutes the low hanging fruit in terms of reducing emissions from flying. Moreover, online or hybrid workshops or conferences entail additional benefits such as less

travel time and lower costs and more inclusiveness in terms of participation. At the other end of the continuum, the reduction of emissions with regards to travel for fieldwork is much more complicated. Fieldwork requires a great deal more thinking and adaptation in order to reduce the ecological footprint while maintaining high quality, engaged fieldwork. What options then would be feasible for scholarly activities for which online substitutes fall short? The research suggests a range of directions and actions. Hybridity. Rather than a dichotomous choice between offline and online, hybridity might become the new reality. Hybridity can take various forms, such as some of the members participating online in a largely physical event. It might also mean that part of the field research takes place offline, with selective interviews being conducted online. Conferences might shift to a format with decentralized regional ‘satellite’ conferences and an online umbrella conference. For activities where an online substitute is problematic, such as fieldwork, a palette of actions and modifications might be considered. An action which ISS has taken is to offset the carbon

emissions of flights. Offsetting is no good if it is used as an excuse to continue with business as usual, but it can be a useful ingredient within a broader array of measures. Ground transport. A policy that has recently been applied by several universities is to stop reimbursement of airline tickets for medium range distances (typically up to 500-700 km) that can be reached by train. At Erasmus University Rotterdam, the School of History, Culture and Communication already has such a policy9 and the university is currently looking into implementing this centrally. Mindful travel. The focus group also suggested ‘mindful’ travel as an option. This encompasses giving more thought to how various activities can be clustered and combined within one trip.

Conclusion The conjuncture of growing attention for the impact of flying on climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic has created a major impulse to the debate on sustainable academic travel. During the pandemic, academics quickly became accustomed to online alternatives to flying and such alternatives, next to obvious limitations, also have various tangible advantages in addition to a lower footprint. The challenge is to find the right mix of solutions to create a new normal.

1 KISS members – Wieke Blaauw, Susana Chang Espino, Thea Hilhorst, Ella Kyeremaa, Mark Lammerts, Irene Lopez Ayala, Irene van Staveren, Oane Visser, Femke van der Vliet. 2 https://klimaatbriefuniversiteiten.nl/open-letter-to-ouruniversities/ 3 https://www.cursor.tue.nl/en/news/2020/november/ week-2/the-young-academy-flying-academics-shouldstay-on-the-ground-more-often/ 4 https://www.cursor.tue.nl/en/news/2020/november/ week-2/the-young-academy-flying-academicsshould-stay-on-the-ground-more-often/ 5 https://issblog.nl/2018/10/17/its-time-for-flying-tobecome-the-new-smoking-by-dorothea-hilhorst/ 6 https://issblog.nl/2020/06/08/covid-19-will-currenttravel-restrictions-help-academics-change-theirflying-behaviour-by-lara-vincent-and-oane-visser/ 7 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2694 8 https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/51335 9 https://www.erasmusmagazine.nl/en/2021/03/01/ flights-under-700-km-the-eshcc-will-no-longer-becovering-expenses/

Staff-student dialogue

2020-2021 batch MA student, Surabhi Srivastava and Deputy Rector for Education Affairs, Professor Karin Arts, share their experiences of learning and teaching during a pandemic.*

Learning and teaching during a pandemic –

Lessons learned Surabhi (S): This year was quite a challenge at first. But as many of us adapted to virtual worlds, online education became one of those things that we just had to get used to. Eventually, I really enjoyed the learning process and being able to engage with people from around the world. I appreciated that faculty creatively engaged with students and helped us engage with each other. But that is my personal experience from a place of privilege, with access to internet, without the need to also have

a job. I realize that's not everyone’s experience. There were people in very restricted settings who didn't have access to internet or to the time or privilege to be able to be present online. I am also interested to learn what challenges faculty faced. Karin (K): Well, most staff also went through a rollercoaster of emotions and anxieties. Almost overnight, we had to shift to online education. As you can imagine, the lockdown forced faculty to

critically reflect on their normal teaching practices and figure out whether these would work in an online setting. S: I think we can expect to see academic research on what working on Zoom does to you mentally and psychologically. I think the impact can be both positive or negative and it’s interesting to hear that ISS faculty had similar experiences. K: Maybe it’s also interesting to discuss whether, in hindsight, things could have been done differently.

Staff-student dialogue

we should ask what help we can provide in terms of making sure that people have a healthy, safe workspace. K: Some rather simple measures might already help. For example, we found a way to provide a break in Term 2. Another example is simply for teachers to stay around after class for whoever wants to have a chat. Small things like that can make a difference. In hindsight, I think we could have been better prepared logistically, for instance in terms of planning for people in different time zones. The same goes for the issue of excessive screen time. S: Maybe another very practical measure would have been to provide people in student housing with a laptop stand, for instance, to help with posture. This has such an impact during online learning because you're sitting at your computer for long periods.

S: When we started our education online, a lot of us did not realise the toll it would take. I wonder now whether spacing out some of the courses could have helped and given us some breathing space. I also wonder whether having more checks on emotional and mental health could have helped. K: ISS focused very much on the continuity of its education programme; on keeping all the courses running, ensuring we had the necessary technology and so on. Maybe we didn't take enough time to also think about the emotional, wellbeing and pedagogical side of our education programme. One positive outcome of this period is that we now have a much better eye for our wellbeing and for personal circumstances. Such things became more obvious and it became self-evident to discuss them. I hope that is something we will maintain. S: I agree. If we offer online education,

K: And I would say for staff it is very important to deliberately create slack time in the day. That's what I realize now that I'm gradually coming back to the office - how much slack time there is in a normal office day. Another question is whether COVID-19 has also created opportunities for education. S: Indeed. There is still this hierarchy between in-person education versus online education. Maybe we need to rethink this binary. The pandemic has brought to the foreground a reframing and revaluing of how we think about online education. We have learned that we can connect without having to spend resources on logistics, transport and so on. And as we try to become more sustainable, maybe investing in airfares, for example, will not be viable. K: Yes, it has also become so much easier to bring guest lecturers onto our courses. Another advantage, of course, is

‘I think the future is hybrid. We now have the power of choice and that really empowers people.’ that you can reach out to a much broader audience and open up academic activities to an audience that would otherwise not have had access. Many colleagues are now also thinking about how to use the new ways of teaching and learning. We might also think about this in terms of opportunities for setting up new educational activities with higher education institutes in the South. That is much easier if they are partly online. S: As you say, I think the future is hybrid. We now have the power of choice and that really empowers people. K: Definitely, we have all experienced that both online and in-person may be suitable. Done rightly, the combinations will lead to better quality and a more impactful outcome. S: It has been a steep learning curve but if I had to choose between this experience versus no education at all, I would opt for online education again. The fact that I could connect with people virtually around the world is a privilege. I take that very seriously and cherish the experience. K: That’s a nice way to end to this conversation! * The full edited transcript of this conversation is reproduced on DevISSues online.

ISS publications

Development and Change

Working Papers

Development and Change is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal devoted to the critical analysis and discussion of current issues of development. It was established by ISS in 1969, in response to the perceived need for a multidisciplinary journal dealing with all aspects of development studies.

The ISS Working Paper series provides a forum for work in progress which seeks to elicit comments and generate discussion. The series includes academic research by staff, PhD researchers and visiting fellows, and award-winning research papers by graduate students.

Volume 52, Number 5, September 2021 Special Issue: The Wind from the East: China and the Economic Future of Europe The Wind from the East: China and European Economic Development Jeffrey Henderson, Magnus Feldmann, Nana de Graaff The European Response to Chinese Outbound Foreign Direct Investment: Introducing a Dynamic Analytical Framework Louis Brennan, Alessandra Vecchi China and European Innovation: Corporate Takeovers and their Consequences Jeffrey Henderson, Mike Hooper Responding to the China Challenge in Technonationalism: Divergence between Germany and the United States Sean Kenji Starrs, Julian Germann Emerging Sino–European Corporate Elite Networks Nana de Graaff, Diliara Valeeva Huawei, 5G and Security: Technological Limitations and Political Responses Karsten Friis, Olav Lysne The Externalization of China's Technical Standardization Approach Tim Nicholas Rühlig, Tobias ten Brink Hidden in Plain Sight: Chinese Development Finance in Central and Eastern Europe Nicholas Jepson Legitimating State Capital: The Global Financial Professions and the Transnationalization of Chinese Sovereign Wealth Imogen T. Liu, Adam D. Dixon

Integrated justice approach to land reform: Why is it important and how? Cynthia Embido Bejeno, ISS Working Paper Series 690 Sex workers’ everyday security in the Netherlands and the impact of COVID-19 María Inés Cubides Kovacsics, Wáleri Santos and Karin Astrid Siegmann, ISS Working Paper Series 689 Digital bodies and digitalised welfare: North-South linkages in the politics of food assistance and social welfare Susanne Jaspars and Christina Sathyamala, ISS Working Paper Series 688 Effectiveness of export promotion programmes Binyam Afewerk Demena, ISS Working Paper Series 687 Border enforcement policies and reforms in South Africa (1994-2020) Jeff Handmaker and Caroline Nalule, ISS Working Paper Series 686 Sustainability and social policy nexus Mahmood Messkoub, ISS Working Paper Series 685 Chinese population shares in Tibet revisited Andrew Fischer, ISS Working Paper Series 684 Does COVID-19 threaten globalization? Sylvanus Kwaku Afesorgbor, Peter van Bergeijk and Binyam Demena, ISS Working Paper Series 683 How COVID-19 and social conflict responses relate Ana Alduenda Avila and Camila Ramos Vilches, ISS Working Paper Series 681 Productivity premia and firm heterogeneity in Eastern Afric Binyam Demena et al., ISS Working Paper Series 680 Becoming a free dandelion Ximena Arguello Calle, ISS Working Paper Series 679 The political economy of the next pandemic Peter van Bergeijk, ISS Working Paper Series 678

Student life

STUDENT LIFE

This summer the ISS student association SCHOLAS offered picnic baskets made by the ISS Butterfly Bar to take to a local park. Photo by Dina Pramudianti.

ISS alumni coaching ISS students to prepare for new challenges after their studies. Photo by Sandra Nijhof.

As most of our new batch of students had to go into quarantine when they first arrived in the Netherlands, they were welcomed with a laundry bag full of goodies – toiletries, tea, coffee and some typical Dutch ‘stroopwafels’ – provided by the ISS Butterfly Bar. Photo by Sandy Kamerling.

ISS students canoe through The Hague canals. Photo by Sarah Njoroge

Global ISSues podcast International development examined up-close On Global ISSues we share our collective stories and first-hand experiences of international development and social change. Recent episodes include talks on the violent fallout of the presidential elections in Uganda, the legacy and impact of the teachers’ union strike in Jordan and on protests & calls for economic reform in Colombia.

Listen to these and all other episodes on Soundcloud. soundcloud.com/ isserasmus

DevISSues Vol. 23 No. 2 Degrowth

Articles inside

Where are they now?

Staff-student dialogue

Student life