Social-ecological transformation, economic history, sustainability, social movements, climate crises, neoliberalism, capitalism, economics, degrowth

Sub-project of the research project at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, funded by the BMBF: "Mentalities in flux: imaginaries and social structure in modern circular bio-based societies (flumen)".

The project analyzes the social-ecological transformation to bio-based, post-fossil societies with a focus on the relationships between the shifting energy and resource base and societal mentalities, practices, and perceptions. The historical module conceptualizes "fossil mentalities" as a key hindrance to any sustainability transformation. The main output is a book provisionally entitled "The Age of Concrete: A History of the World’s most used man-made Material" – an empirical study detailing the rise of concrete and cement, combining material flow accounting, environmental history, commodity frontiers, business history, and sketching challenges for a social-ecological transformation based on sufficiency. 

As of September 2023: Europa-Universität Flensburg – Interim Professor for Social-Ecological Transformation (fall semester 2023), Director of the Elias Center for Transformationsdesign & Research (NEC) and Chair of the Master's Degree Programme Transformation Studies

2023: University of Copenhagen – Visiting professor at the Center for Applied Ecological Thinking

2019-2023: Friedrich Schiller University Jena – Postdoctoral researcher (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), Institute of Sociology, Junior Research Group "Mentalities in flux. Imaginaries in Modern Circular Bio-Based Societies"

2018 to present: Bürgerbewegung Finanzwende e.V. – Founding member

2017-2021: Support group of the International Degrowth Conferences – Responsible for international degrowth conferences and coordination

2015 to present: Laboratory for a New Economy (Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie e.V.) – Part-time collaborator in various projects on heterodox economic approaches, socio-ecological transformation, utopias, migration, climate justice. Publication of various books and policy papers; organization and conception of workshops, network meetings and large conferences. Among other things, the two-year networking and multimedia project Degrowth in Movement(s), the conference Self-determined and Solidarity! Conference on Migration, Development and Ecological Crises, the project Future for All. A vision for 2048, as well as the project Building Blocks for Climate Justice with a focus on ecological reparations.

2015-2019: Post-Growth Societies – Permanent Fellow at the DFG-Research Group "Post-Growth Societies" at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, responsible for an empirical study on the degrowth movement (based on survey data), mapping various currents within the debate around social-ecological transformation and post-growth, as well as writing the first academic introductory book on degrowth in German: "Degrowth/Postwachstum zur Einführung" (Junius, with Andrea Vetter).

2015-2016: University of Zurich – Postdoc at the Research Center for Social and Economic History

2013-2015: Université de Genève – Postdoc at the Paul Bairoch Institute for Economic History

2011-2023: Teaching positions in various study programmes, e.g. European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Humboldt University Berlin, University of Zürich, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Europa-Universität Flensburg, University of Vienna

2010-2013: German-French doctoral program "Construire les différences: l’histoire comme objet et comme représentation", Paris and Berlin

2009-2013: European University Viadrina, Frankfurt – Graduate programme "Transformations in Global Governance. Europe and the World Order in Historical Perspective"

2008 to present: Active in various social movements and alternative economic initiatives, including Attac (in the coordination committee 2009-10), in climate justice groups, with Scientists for Future, foundation of the Network for Economic Change

2008-2009: World Economy, Ecology and Development (WEED e.V.) – Research and campaign work on international financial markets, publication of two studies on financial market regulation and global governance

2005-2006: University of California, Berkeley – Master studies in history, economics, development studies, political science, and sociology

2000-2008: 2000-2008: Studies of History, Political Science, Economics and Philosophy at the Humboldt University Berlin

More information and downloads here.

2022. The Future is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism. London/New York: Verso (with Andrea Vetter and Aaron Vansintjan).
Translation in diverse languages in preparation: Italian, Korean, Spanish, Turkish, Czech, Vietnamese

2020. Zukunft für alle: Eine Vision für 2048: gerecht. ökologisch. machbar. München: oekom (with Kai Kuhnhenn, Anne Pinnow and Nina Treu). Available online.

2019. Degrowth/Postwachstum zur Einführung. Hamburg: Junius-Verlag (with Andrea Vetter).

2016. The Hegemony of Growth. The OECD and the Making of the Economic Growth Paradigm. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. More information.

2011. Postwachstum. Krise, ökologische Grenzen, soziale Rechte. Hamburg: VSA-Verlag (with Alexis Passadakis).

2010. Freiheit für Wechselkurse und Kapital. Die Ursprünge neoliberaler Währungspolitik und die Mont Pèlerin Society. Marburg: Metropolis-Verlag.

2020. Degrowth in Movement(s). Exploring pathways for transformation, ed. with Corinna Burkart and Nina Treu. London: Zero Books. Available online.

2018. Entwachstum – Utopie, Konturen und Spannungen des Degrowth-Spektrums, Special Issue of Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen 31 (4), ed. with Dennis Eversberg and Gabriele Schmidt.

2017. History of the Future of Economic Growth. Historical roots of current debates on sustainable degrowth (Routledge Studies in Ecological Economics Series), ed. with Iris Borowy. London: Routledge.

2017. The OECD and the Global Political Economy, 1948 to Present (Transnational History Series), ed. with Matthieu Leimgruber. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

2017. Degrowth in Bewegung(en). 32 alternative Wege zur sozial-ökologischen Transformation, ed. with Nina Treu and Corinna Burkhart. München: oekom. Available online.

2011. Ausgewachsen. Ökologische Gerechtigkeit. Soziale Rechte. Gutes Leben, ed. with Werner Rätz, Tanja von Egan-Krieger, Barbara Muraca, Alexis Passadakis and Andrea Vetter. Hamburg: VSA-Verlag.

* Peer-Review

2024. "Planning beyond growth: The case for economic democracy within ecological Limits". In: Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 437. Available online.

2023. "Degrowth als Notwendigkeit: Wider die Legende vom grünen Wachstum", In: Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik, Nr. 10 (2023), S. 96–104. Berlin: Blätter-Verl.-Ges.

* 2023. "Ecological Reparations and Degrowth: Towards a Convergence of Alternatives Around World-Making After Growth", Development, 27. June 2023 (with Tonny Nowshin). Available online.

* 2023. "Degrowth and Masculinities: Towards a gendered understanding of degrowth subjectivities", Degrowth Journal Vol. 1, 00009 (with Dennis Eversberg). Available online.

* 2023. "Frum Luddites to Limits? Towards a systematization of growth critiques in historical perspective", Globalizations 20 (3), 447-464. Available online.

* 2021. "Anmerkungen zu Niko Paechs Postwachstumsökonomie. Plädoyer für weniger Individualethik, mehr Kapitalismuskritik und eine intersektionale Gerechtigkeitsperspektive", Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts-und Unternehmensethik 22 (2), 191–195 (with Corinna Dengler). Available online.

* 2021. "De Maldesarrollo a Decrecimiento: Una visión posfósil y globalmente justa para las sociedades del Norte global", Gestión y Ambiente 24, 153–174. Available online.

* 2019. "Gekoppelt wird ein Schuh draus: Green New Deal versus Degrowth", Politische Ökologie 4, 31–37 (with Elena Hofferberth). Available online.

* 2018. "Research on Degrowth", Annual Review of Environment and Resources 43, 291-316 (with Giorgos Kallis, Vasilis Kostakis, Steffen Lange, Barbara Muraca and Susan Paulson). Available online.

* 2018. "The Degrowth Spectrum: Convergence and Divergence within a Diverse and Conflictual Alliance", Environmental Values 27, 245–267 (with Dennis Eversberg). Available online.

2018. "Entwachstum – Utopie, Konturen und Spannungen des Degrowth-Spektrums", Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen 31 (4), 3–8 (with Dennis Eversberg and Gabriele Schmidt). Available online.

2018. "Revolution Predigen, Karottensaft Trinken? Zum Zusammenhang von Strömungen, Lebensstilen und Aktivismus Im Degrowth-Spektrum", Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen 31 (4), 26–36 (with Dennis Eversberg). Available online.

2018. "Degrowth & Postwachstum", PERIPHERIE 150/151 (38), 336–39.

* 2017. "Beyond Growth, Capitalism, and Industrialism? Consensus, Divisions and Currents within the Emerging Movement for Sustainable Degrowth", Interface: A Journal for and about Social Movements 9 (1), 327–56 (with Dennis Eversberg). Available online.

* 2017. "Mehr als Weniger: Erste Überlegungen zur Frage nach dem Postwachstumssubjekt", Psychosozial 40 (2), 83–100 (with Dennis Eversberg).

* 2017. "‘Born in the corridors of the OECD’: The forgotten origins of the Club of Rome and the unraveling of the postwar confidence in economic growth", Journal of Global History 12 (1), 26–48. Available online.

2016. "Über die Selbstproblematisierung zur Kapitalismuskritik. Vier Thesen zur entstehenden Degrowth-Bewegung", Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen 29 (1), 9–17 (with Dennis Eversberg). Available online.

* 2015. "The growth paradigm: History, hegemony, and the contested making of economic growthmanship", Ecological Economics 118, 262–271. Available online.

* 2015. "‘Expandiere oder stirb’. Das Wachstumsparadigma, die OECD, und wie die Erwartung exponentiellen Wirtschaftswachstums sich durchsetzte", Geschichte und Gesellschaft 41 (3), 355–393. Available online.

* 2015. "Entwickelter Norden, unterentwickelter Süden? Wissenseliten, Entwicklungshilfe und die Konstruktion des Westens in der OEEC und OECD", Comparativ – Zeitschrift für Globalgeschichte und vergleichende Gesellschaftsforschung 25 (5), 18–35.

* 2015. "Marketing marketization: The power of neoliberal expert, consulting, and lobby networks", Zeithistorische Forschungen/Studies in Contemporary History 12 (3), 488–499 (with Dieter Plehwe). Available online.

2014. "Organisierter Kapitalismus und US-Hegemonie: Das Währungssystem von Bretton Woods", in Zeitgeschichte-Online. Available online.

* 2012. "The Crisis before the Crisis: The ‘Problems of Modern Society’ and the OECD, 1968-1974", European Review of History 19 (6), 999–1020. Available online.

* 2010. "Marketing morals, moralizing markets. Assessing the effectiveness of Fair Trade as a form of boycott", Management & Organizational History 5 (2), 221–250.

Forthcoming. "Degrowth and planning: Towards a research agenda", in: Creative Construction - Planned Economies in the 21st Century and Beyond, ed. by Jan Groos and Christoph Sorg, Bristol: Bristol University Press (with Cédric Durand and Elena Hofferberth).

Forthcoming. "From downscaling to global justice: On the need of linking climate reparations and degrowth", in: Facing the socio-ecological crisis: Delinking and the question of Global Reparations, ed. by Ndongo Samba Sylla et al. London: Pluto.

Forthcoming. "Bioeconomy: A solution to the challenges of a post-fossil future?", in: Edward Elgar Handbook on Alternative Global Development, ed. by Franklin Obeng-Odoom (with Dennis Eversberg and Jana Holz).

Forthcoming. "Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)", in: Elgar Encyclopedia of Development, ed. by Matthew Clarke. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

2024. "‘Without Growth, Everything Is Nothing’: On the Origins of Growthism." In:  Eastwood, Lauren & Heron,Kai (Hrsg.). De Gruyter Handbook of Degrowth, pp. 26–40. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. Available online.

2023. "The Historical Transformations of the OECD". In The Elgar Companion to the OECD, 9–22. Edward Elgar Publishing (with Matthieu Leimgruber). Available online.

2022. "Degrowth", in: Handbuch Politische Ökologie: Theorien, Konflikte, Begriffe, Methoden, ed. by Daniela Gottschlich, Sarah Hackfort, Tobias Schmitt, and Uta von Winterfeld. Bielefeld: Transcript, 331-40 (with Andrea Vetter).

2022. "Who Shut Shit down? What Degrowth Can Learn from Other Social-Ecological Movements", in: Degrowth & Strategy: How to Bring about Social-Ecological Transformation, ed. by Nathan Barlow, Livia Regen, and Noémie Cadiou et al., 129–43. S.l.: Mayflybooks/Ephemera, 2022 (with Corinna Burkhart, Tonny Nowshin and Nina Treu). Available online.

2021. "The Emancipatory Project of Degrowth", in: Post-Growth Geographies - Spatial Relations of Diverse and Alternative Economies, ed. by Bastian Lange, Martina Hülz, Benedikt Schmid and Christian Schulz, 99–106. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2021 (with Andrea Vetter). Available online.

2020. "‘All you talk about are fairy tales of eternal economic growth’. Degrowth als konkrete Utopie für eine klimagerechte Zukunft", in: Sozial-ökologische Utopien: Diesseits oder jenseits von Wachstum und Kapitalismus?, ed. by Benjamin Görgen and Björn Wendt, 131-147. München: oekom, 2020 (with Andrea Vetter).

2020. "Raus aus dem Elfenbeinturm! Mit der ‘Third Mission’ zur Wachstumsunabhängigkeit", in: Economists4Future. Verantwortung übernehmen für eine bessere Welt, ed. by Lars Hochmann, 207–18. Murmann (with Steffen Lange and Helen Sharp).

2020. "Price Premiums and New Opportunities Benefit Fair Trade Producers and Workers", in: Fair Trade, ed. by Ariana Agrios, 33–42. New York: Greenhaven Publishing LLC, 2020.

2020. "Stadt für alle jenseits des Wachstums: Was kann die Stadtforschung aus der Degrowthdebatte lernen? ", in: Postwachstumsstadt: Konturen einer solidarischen Stadtpolitik, ed. by Anton Brokow-Loga and Frank Eckardt, 44–57. München: oekom (with Andrea Vetter).

2020. "What Comes After Bretton Woods? Neoliberals Debate and Fight for a Future Monetary Order", in: Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, ed. by Philip Mirowski, Dieter Plehwe and Quinn Slobodian, 197-218. London: Verso. Available online.

2019. "Zur Genese des Wachstumsparadigmas", in: Transformationsgesellschaften: Zum Wandel gesellschaftlicher Naturverhältnisse, ed. by Michaela Christ, Bernd Sommer, and Klara Stumpf, 111-130. Weimar: Metropolis.

2019. "Degrowth und Männlichkeiten – Zur Geschlechtlichkeit des relationalen Postwachstumssubjekts", in: Caring Masculinities? Auf der Suche nach Transformationswegen in eine demokratische Postwachstumsgesellschaft, ed. by Andreas Heilmann and Sylka Scholz, 173-184. München: oekom (with Dennis Eversberg).

2018. "The growth paradigm: History, hegemony, and the contested making of economic growthmanship", in: Routledge Handbook of the History of Sustainability, ed. by Jeremy Caradonna. London and New York: Routledge.

2017. "Public Sociology in der Bewegungsforschung. Zum Verhältnis von Soziologie, Gesellschaftskritik und sozialen Bewegungen", in: Öffentliche Soziologie: Wissenschaft im Dialog mit der Gesellschaft, ed. by Brigitte Aulenbacher, Michael Burawoy, Klaus Dörre, and Johanna Sittel, 176–188. Frankfurt a.M.: Campus Verlag, 2017 (with Dennis Eversberg, Steffen Liebig, and Nina Treu).

2017. "Introduction: The End of Economic Growth in Long-Term Perspective", in: History of the Future of Economic Growth. Historical roots of current debates on sustainable degrowth (Routledge Studies in Ecological Economics Series), ed. by Iris Borowy and Matthias Schmelzer, 1-26. London: Routledge (with Iris Borowy).

2017. "Sustainable Degrowth: Historical Roots of the Search for Alternatives to Growth in Three Regions", in: History of the Future of Economic Growth. Historical roots of current debates on sustainable degrowth (Routledge Studies in Ecological Economics Series), ed. by Iris Borowy and Matthias Schmelzer, 174–197. London: Routledge (with Barbara Muraca).

2017. "Ohne Bewegungen keine Transformation: Das Mosaik der Alternativen als Kompass für Postwachstumspolitiken", in: Postwachstumspolitiken Wege zur wachstumsunabhängigen Gesellschaft, ed. by Frank Adler and Ulrich Schachtschneider, 77–88. München: oekom (with Corinna Burkhart and Nina Treu).

2017. "Degrowth: In Bewegung, um Alternativen zu stärken und Wachstum, Wettbewerb und Profit zu überwinden", in: Degrowth in Bewegung(en). 32 Wege zu einer sozial-ökologischen Transformation, ed. by Corinna Burkhart, Matthias Schmelzer, and Nina Treu. München: oekom (with Corinna Burkhart, Dennis Eversberg, and Nina Treu).

2017. "Degrowth: In Bewegung, um Alternativen zu stärken und Wachstum, Wettbewerb und Profit zu überwinden", in: Degrowth in Bewegung(en). 32 Wege zu einer sozial-ökologischen Transformation, ed. by Corinna Burkhart, Matthias Schmelzer, and Nina Treu, 108–117. München: oekom (with Corinna Burkhart, Dennis Eversberg, and Nina Treu).

2017. "Degrowth als Teil des Mosaiks der Alternativen für eine sozial-ökologische Transformation", in: Degrowth in Bewegung(en). 32 Wege zu einer sozial-ökologischen Transformation, ed. by Corinna Burkhart, Matthias Schmelzer, and Nina Treu, 402–414. München: oekom (with Corinna Burkhart and Nina Treu).

2016. "Selbstveränderung, Kapitalismuskritik, Organisierung: Transformationspotentiale der Degrowth-Bewegung", in: Wachstum - Krise und Kritik: Die Grenzen der kapitalistisch-industriellen Lebensweise, ed. by AK Postwachstum, 179–200. Frankfurt a.M: Campus Verlag.

2016. "‘Die Vermessung ,der Wirtschaft’: Konstruktionen und Kontroversen in der internationalen Standardisierung der volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnung, 1940er- und 50er-Jahre", in: Die Innenwelt der Ökonomie. Wissen, Macht und Performativität in der Wirtschaftswissenschaft, ed. by Jens Maeße, Hanno Pahl, and Jan Sparsam, 287–310. Berlin: VS-Springer.

2014. "A club of the rich to help the poor? The OECD, ‘development’, and the hegemony of donor countries", in: International Organizations and Development, 1945 to 1990, ed. by Marc Frey, Soenke Kunkel, and Corinna Unger, 171–195. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

2013. "The Crisis before the Crisis: The ‘Problems of Modern Society’ and the OECD, 1968-1974", in: Economic Crises and Global Politics in the 20th Century, ed. by Alexander Nützenadel and Cornelius Torp, 151–172. London: Routledge.

2023. "Growth Paradigm", in: Dictionary of Ecological Economics: Terms for the New Millenium, ed. by Brent Haddad, 259–260. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

2023. "Planning beyond Growth. The Case for Economic Democracy within Limits", Political Economy Working Papers 1/2023, University of Geneva (with Cédric Durand and Elena Hofferberth). Available online .

2022. "Mit grüner Marktwirtschaft das Klima retten? Klimagerechtigkeits-Check der Ampel-Regierung", Leipzig: Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie, (with Lasse Thiele and Ruth Krohn). Available online.

2022. "Ende des Wachstums? Vorschläge für eine Postwachstumsgesellschaft", Politik & Kultur 4/2.

2021. "Germany: a declining ecological footprint", in: Happy Planet Index. Available online.

2021. "Fossile Mentalitäten. Zur Geschichte der fossilen Durchdringung moderner Vorstellungswelten", Working Paper No. 3, Mentalitäten im Fluss (flumen), Jena (with Melissa Büttner). Available online.

2021. "Mentalities Matter. Sozial-ökologische Mentalitäten und ihre Bedeutung in post-fossilen Transformationen", Working Paper No. 5, Mentalitäten im Fluss (flumen), Jena. (with Dennis Eversberg, Martin Fritz, Jana Holz, Philip Koch, Lilian Pungas). Available online.

2021. Ist Klimagerechtigkeit wählbar? Eine Wahlprogramm Analyse, Leipzig: Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie (with Kai Kuhnhenn and Lasse Thiele). Available online.

2019. Degrowth of Aviation. Reducing Air Travel in a Just Way. Vienna: Stay Grounded (with Adrian Haßler, Chandni Dwarkasing, Elli Reckmann, Filka Sekulova, Francois Schneider, Irene Iniesta-Arandia, Larry Edwards, Laura Machler, Manuel Grebenjak, Magdalena Heuwieser, Nuria Blázquez Sánchez, Rose Bridger, Sara Mingorría). Available online.
Translation into German, Portuguese, and Spanish.

2017. Kein Wachstum ist auch (k)eine Lösung. Mythen und Behauptungen über Wirtschaftswachstum und Degrowth. Berlin: Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (with Max Frauenlob, Kai Kuhnhenn, Christopher Laumanns, Nina Treu and Andrea Vetter). Available online.

2015. "Gutes Leben statt Wachstum: Degrowth, Klimagerechtigkeit, Subsistenz – eine Einführung in die Begriffe und Ansätze der Postwachstumsbewegung", in: Atlas der Globalisierung: Weniger wird mehr, Hrsg. Le Monde diplomatique and DFG-Kolleg Postwachstumsgesellschaften, 116-121. Berlin: Le Monde diplomatique.

2015. Degrowth: Kapitalismuskritik muss praktisch werden! Grundkonsens und Differenzen einer entstehenden Bewegung, Working Paper (with Dennis Eversberg).

2014. "Thorkil Kristensen", in: Biographical Dictionary of Secretaries-General of International Organizations, ed. by Bob Reinalda and Kent Kille. Available online.

2012. White Paper of the Winter School on Limits to Growth Revisited, ed. by F. Pütter and A. Kremers, Visselhövede, Hannover, Germany (Co-Autor et al.).

2010. "Postwachstum. 12 Fluchtlinien für eine solidarische Ökonomie jenseits des Wachstums", veröffentlicht auf postwachstum.net, attac.de, Magazin Cultura21 and others (with Alexis Passadakis).
Translations into English, French, Japanese and Finnish.

2009. Alternatives to the Casino? A synopsis of intergovernmental, private sector and civil society proposals to reform the international financial system. Berlin: Weed.

2009. Towards a New Bretton Woods? A critical analysis of current debates on building a new financial architecture. Berlin: Weed.

2007. In or Against the Market? Is Fair Trade a neoliberal solution to market failures or a practical challenge to neoliberal trade and the free market regime in general? (Study written for Prof. Dr. Peter Evans an der University of California, Berkeley, published online in various instances).
Translations into German and Spanish.

Media: Al Jazeera, Bayrischer Rundfunk, Deutschlandfunk, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, EU Observer, London Review of Books, Open Democracy, New Statesman, taz, The Ecologist, World Politics Review, WOZ, among others

Seit 2015 Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie, intermediary employment and part of the collective, currently working as a freelancer

2017-2021 Support Group of the International Degrowth Conferences

Jury "Lehre im Kontext von Nachhaltigkeit" (Teaching in the context of Sustainability) of the Foundation Innovation in Higher Education Teaching

Climate Social Science Network (CSSN)

European Parliament History Research Network

Gesellschaft für sozioökonomische Bildung und Wissenschaft (GSÖBW, Association for Socioeconomic Education and Research)

Institut für Protest- und Bewegungsforschung (ipb, Institute for Protest and Social Movement Studies) – AK Umwelt, Proteste, Ressourcenkonflikte

Network "Wissen und Wirtschaft" (Knowledge and Economics)

Post-growth Economics Network (PEN)

The Global Politics of Post-Growth Network

Reviews: Austrian Panel on Climate Change (APCC), Bristol University Press, Docupedia-Zeitgeschichte, Ecological Economics, European Research Council, Futures Global Studies Quarterly, Innovation, Manchester University Press, Review of International Political Economy, Routledge, Swiss National Science Foundation, Université Libre de Bruxelles, ZED books, Zeitschrift für Technikfolgenabschätzung in Theorie und Praxis, among others