SWS - Study

4. Introduction

Those who bear responsibility in politics, business or society and are aware of the obstacles described above deal with the challenges transparently and in a planned manner and do not indulge in simple illusions of planning or feasibility: they are aware that no one knows everything in complex relationships and always reckon with the fact that unpredictable things can happen. He or she understands that appropriate formal and informal institutions, both national and international, are needed to meet these challenges and that different interest groups can misinterpret and exploit the complexity to their own advantage. Transformation policy must therefore also address the power imbalances that prevent necessary changes in order to maintain the status quo.
In addition, one must make the best possible use of the potential of other social transformation processes that are not causally linked to the socio-ecological transformation. This applies, for example, to digitalisation, which can make a significant contribution to reducing resource consumption in industrial production, in the control and avoidance of traffic, in energy management or in urban infrastructure.51 However, digitalisation should not merely accelerate and codify traditional practices, as this would risk exacerbating many of the inequalities and problems that were described above. Rather, it is about replacing silo mentality with contemporary network thinking that opens up new possibilities for action, but at the same time clearly identifies and cooperatively links the different levels of responsibility. In the knowledge of these links, a transformation strategy must also be participatory and reflective of learning.
Following the well-known image of "creative destruction" used by the economist and sociologist Joseph Schumpeter52 in his theory of economic development, innovative "entrepreneurship" in the broadest sense is needed for this: innovators who are willing to discover and implement possible alternatives to familiar and seemingly unchangeable routines, technologies or structures at an early stage. In demand are political leaders who courageously initiate structural reforms that promote sustainability, classic entrepreneurs, but also actors of change in other areas of society, from science to civil society to the church. Wherever they question routines, break patterns and abandon outdated paths, and instead advance social and technological innovations in the service of the common good – even against resistance – they make a "creative" contribution to socio-ecological change as pioneers.