Sustainability transitions in the Global South

In the past decade, the geographical and conceptual breadth of sustainability transitions have remarkably expanded, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Increasing attention is paid to social, economic and environmental issues in the ‘Global South’ where decades of colonial rule have shaped the local infrastructures and institutions. In recent years the literature has taken a ‘decolonial turn’, underlining the risks of failing to challenge the reproduction of colonial ways of control, power, privilege, cultures of domination and disassociation with Nature. This chapter reviews this emerging literature in articulating why and how contexts differ between Global South and Global North and in what ways sustainability transitions theories could be sensitive and meaningful in Global South contexts. The central research question is: how could we analyse and enact sustainability transitions in the Global South contexts, in a way that transcends the historical challenges of colonial modernity and undesired modes and forms of development while pursuing just futures? The review is organised around five themes, namely niches, regimes, change, justice and knowledge diversity. The chapter proposes ways to go deeper along these five themes in setting out a research agenda for future sustainability transitions research in the Global South.