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Shocks, institutional change, and sustainability transitions

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journal contribution
posted on 2025-04-14, 14:13 authored by Philip JohnstonePhilip Johnstone, J Schot
The role of exogenous shocks in influencing transition processes is of significant interest to a wide variety of research in sustainability science (SS). Such events disturb and interrupt path-dependent processes in sociotechnical systems. Sometimes this can lead to radical departures from existing trajectories, while at other times existing systems can be more resilient, adapting, or reconfiguring in response to a shock. In this paper, we explore the role that exogenous shocks can have on institutional change. The sustainability transition literature, as shaped by the multilevel perspective, has usually focused on shocks as windows of opportunity (WoO) where alternatives can break through due to strategic action. We offer the perspective of imprinting, which places primary attention on shocks leading to immediate and irreversible institutional change with long-term consequences. The usefulness of this concept is explored by examining the impact of two major shocks to the energy system: World War II and the 1973 oil crisis. It is concluded that the imprinting concept enables analysis that is attentive to how the underlying institutions of a system can be rapidly and deeply altered by the dynamics of exogenous shocks. It is argued that imprinting is an important complementary concept, next to windows of opportunity, for sustainability science research aiming to understand the period of turbulence we are living through.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

ISSN

0027-8424

Publisher

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Issue

47

Volume

120

Article number

e2206226120

Department affiliated with

  • SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit Publications
  • Business and Management Publications

Institution

University of Sussex

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes