The role of power in grassroots innovations for sustainability transitions: a literature review

This paper aims to conduct a systematic literature review on studies of power in grassroots innovations that can shed light on this sub-field of research by revealing: (a) what do we know about power when grassroots innovations interact with other actors involved in sustainability transitions; (b) which knowledge gaps have been investigated and which persist; (c) how has power been conceptualized and researched empirically; (d) how can the study of power in grassroots innovation provide insights into the role of power in sustainability transitions more broadly; and (e) what are the most important avenues for future research.
Sustainability transitions are inherently political (Meadowcroft, 2011; Avelino et al., 2016; Köhler et al., 2019). Research on the politics of sustainability transitions has particularly articulated the notion of power - i.e. how and when power emerges, influences and is itself reconfigured in sustainability transitions (Grin, 2010; Hoffman, 2013; Geels, 2014; Avelino et al., 2016; Avelino, 2017; Ahlborg, 2017; Rossi et al., 2019).
With growing realization of the limitations and inabilities of the state and corporate interventions to lead sustainability transitions on the scope and magnitude needed to respond to environmental change (Leach et al., 2012; Castan-Broto, 2015; Swilling et al., 2015), and recognizing the need for a better understanding of civil society ‘s contributions to sustainability transitions (Leach et al., 2012; Frantzeskaki et al., 2016), many researchers have turned their attention to grassroots innovations. One important focus of this research agenda is that of the role and impact of grassroots innovations on the politics of sustainability transitions, and how such politics in turn impacts grassroots innovations.
Grassroots innovations can interact in different manners with the power and politics of sustainability transitions. For instance, grassroots innovations have been conceptualized as ‘protective’ spaces of empowerment for (a) the configuration and development of alternative and bottom-up innovations; and for (b) local and marginalized actors (Smith et al., 2014; Smith and Ely, 2015). Furthermore, grassroots innovations face the risk of cooption by incumbent actors in socio-technical regimes which, on the one hand, may undermine the degree of radicality and alterity of grassroots innovations (Smith, 2006), while on the other hand, may create an opportunity to scale-up and access resources (Pel, 2016). To avoid the risks of cooption and retain autonomy, grassroots innovations employ political power to access external resources that allow for independency and survival in the long-run (Smith and Ely, 2015).
In sum, tudies of grassroots innovations, and research on sustainability transitions more broadly, have explored a wide diversity of approaches to the study of power. This diversity has on the one hand enriched our understanding of power and politics in sustainability transitions that are influenced by grassroots innovations, but, on the other, it has come with theoretical and methodological fragmentation (Köhler et al., 2019). In turn, fragmentation hinders the ability to assess the depth of our knowledge on power and politics in grassroots innovations, and to identify persisting knowledge gaps and needs for further research.
This literature review aims to take stock of the rapidly developing field of study of grassroots innovations, specifically focusing on the role of power in this phenomenon. It has the potential to address the gray zone formed by the fragmented literature on power in grassroots innovations, and in sustainability transitions, and to reveal which questions have, and have not, been asked and answered.