From limits to growth to post-growth – The international politics of technology in historical perspective

Abstract

Fifty years ago, innovation studies researchers were critical towards the pioneering ‘Limits to Growth’ analysis of world economy–environment relations. Whilst criticism took distinct forms, their arguments shared hope in the ability of technology to decouple economic growth from environmental collapse. This idea has remained prominent in policy ever since. In revisiting that debate, however, this article recalls how critics’ hope was conditional upon a radical restructuring of political and economic relations at the international level. This was a period when Third World solidarity was pushing the United Nations towards an equitable economic order for post-colonial justice—including a global redistribution of technological capabilities and self-reliance. These hopes crumbled in the face of the neoliberal counter-revolution, and today, green growth frames technology as a device for evading, not enabling, radical political and economic change. Given the alarming fact that Limits to Growth scenarios appear more prescient than ever, what lessons can post-growth approaches to technology draw from this history?