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Existing institutions no longer appear to be sufficiently capable to deal with the complexity and uncertainty associated with the wicked problem of sustainability. Achieving the required sustainability transformation will thus require purposeful reform of existing institutional frameworks. However, existing research on the governance of sustainability of sustainability transformations has strongly focused on innovation and the more "creative" aspects of these processes, blinding our view to the fact that they go hand with the failure, decline or dismantling of institutions that are no longer considered functional or desirable. This doctoral dissertation thus seeks to better understand how institutional failure and decline can contribute productively to sustainability transformations and how such dynamics in institutional arrangements can serve to restructure existing institutional systems. A systematic review of the conceptual literature served to provide a concise synthesis of the research on "failure" and "decline" in the institutional literature, providing important first insights into their potentially productive functions. This was followed up by an archetype analysis of the productive functions of failure and decline, drawing on a wide range of literatures. This research identified five archetypical pathways: (1) crises triggering institutional adaptations toward sustainability, (2) systematic learning from failure and breakdown, (3) the purposeful destabilisation of unsustainable institutions, (4) making a virtue of inevitable decline, and (5) active and reflective decision making in the face of decline instead of leaving it to chance. Empirical case studies looking at the German energy transition and efforts to phase out coal in the Powering Past Coal Alliance served to provide more insights on (a) how to effectively harness "windows of opportunity" for change, and (b) the governance mechanisms used by governments to actively remove institutions. Results indicate that the lock-in of existing technologies, regulations and practices can throw up important obstacles for sustainability transformations. The intentional or unintentional destabilisation of the status quo may thus be required to enable healthy renewal within a system. This process required active and reflective management to avoid the irreversible loss of desirable institutional elements. Instruments such as "sunset clauses" and "experimental legislation" may serve as important tools to learn through "trial and error", whilst limiting the possible damage done by failure. Focusing on the subject of scale, this analysis finds that the level at which failure occurs is likely to determine the degree of change that can be achieved. Failures at the policy-level are most likely to merely lead to changes to the tools and instruments used by policy makers. This research thus suggests that failures on the polity- and political level may be required to achieve transformative changes to existing power structures, belief-systems and paradigms. Finally, this research briefly touches on the role of actor and agency in the governance of sustainabilitytransformations through failure and decline. It finds that actors may play an important role in causing a system or one of its elements to fail and in shaping the way events are come to be perceived.
The energy sector is regarded as one of the decisive subsystems influencing the future of sustainable development. Consequently, there is a need for a comprehensive transformation of energy generation, conversion and use. The importance of building capacities for energy policy development in developing countries is bound up with the need to formulate global strategies to meet the challenges that humanity face, especially to achieve the targets manifested in the Agenda 2030 and Paris Agreement. The aim of this research is to better understand how to empower marginalised key societal actors, co-produce alternative discourses about energy futures and articulate those discourses to influence policy change within a context of illiberal democracies in Latin America. The research concerns the design, function and effectiveness of scientifically grounded participatory process, which has been justified theoretically and tested empirically. The process presupposes theoretical perspectives relating to theory, method and empirical application. The first draws on theories of sustainability transition and transformation, including transition management. The second draws on ideas taken from the knowledge co-production and transdisciplinary sustainability research. The empirical application, concerns the implementation of a Transdisciplinary Transition Management Arena (TTMA) and its effectiveness, measured by potential for the co-production of knowledge and for stimulating collective action. As result of the process, a conceptual model of the energy system, long-term visions and transformation strategies were developed. The TTMA processes demonstrated that cross-sectoral and inter-institutional, combined efforts, can help actors visualize possible, future alternatives for sustainable energy development and how to realize such alternatives. The structures provided were helpful for the emergence and empowerment of new sustainable-energy-transition coalitions in both Ecuador and Peru. Chapter 1 describes the general context in which this scientific project is developed and presents a synthesis of the processes and its main outcomes. The research results are described in detail in the scientific papers presented in chapters 2, 3 and 4.