Abstract
Sufficiency as a social organizing principle can be applied to individuals, organizations, and economies. But if the encompassing social structure, namely, the state, is still organized around expansionist principles like efficiency and growth, the outcome will be the same—excess, the exceeding of regenerative capacities biophysical and social, local to global. A prospective project of effecting fundamental social change argues that sufficiency must be applied to the state. From a natural resources perspective defining features of the state form are concentration and surplus both of which tend to excess and require endless frontiers. Re-organizing to counter this tendency and institutionalizing sufficiency requires imaginative politics. A long multicultural human history of reorganizing to adapt to environmental conditions bodes well. Resistance, though, even as the contradictions play out, is to be expected.
Background
Sufficiency as a social organizing principle can be applied to individuals, organizations, and economies. However, if the encompassing social structure, namely, the state, is still organized around expansionist principles like efficiency and growth, the outcome will be the same—excess, the exceeding of regenerative capacities, both biophysical and social, from the local to the global.
Argument
A prospective project of effecting fundamental social change argues that sufficiency must be applied to the state. From a natural resources perspective, defining features of the state form are concentration and surplus, both of which tend to excess and require endless frontiers. Reorganizing to counter this tendency and institutionalizing sufficiency requires imaginative politics.
Conclusion
A long multicultural human history of reorganizing to adapt to environmental conditions bodes well. Resistance, though, even as the contradictions play out, is to be expected.
Key Questions
1. What does sufficiency as a social organizing principle mean?
Sufficiency involves limiting consumption and growth to sustainable levels, ensuring that social, economic, and environmental systems do not exceed regenerative capacities.
2. How can sufficiency be applied to the state?
Applying sufficiency to the state involves challenging expansionist principles like efficiency and growth, and rethinking state structures to prioritize sustainability over endless growth.
3. What are the defining features of the state that promote excess?
The state’s concentration of power and surplus tends to excess, which necessitates expansion and the creation of endless frontiers to maintain its growth-oriented structure.
4. What challenges are expected when institutionalizing sufficiency?
Resistance is expected as the contradictions of growth-based systems play out, but historical examples of adaptation to environmental conditions offer hope for future changes.
