Accountability and Sustainable Transitions: Toward an Integrated Analysis of Sociopolitical and Ecological Risks. Part I

In the face of ecological catastrophe and widening economic inequality, it is essential to analyze authoritative knowledge and institutional capacity to define problems and allocate responsibility in relation to ecological, economic, and socio-political risks. With the broader discourses on the ‘Anthropocene/Capitalocene’ and 'sustainable development’ accountability has become crucial for justifying (in)actions and the external assessments of (in)actions.

Therefore, this session explores the role of accountability as part of governance mechanisms such as information management, the allocation of incentives and sanctions, empowerment, and the emergence of new values, and innovations. The session addresses questions relating to the way in which accountability supports feedbacks that change socioecological relations and mitigates risks as well as mechanism through which governments, corporations, civil society and social movement organizations, political parties, investors, critics, and consumers perform engagement with sustainability in order to “sustain the unsustainable.” Given that different parties use a variety of tools to demand and give accounts, we ask how they regulate socioeconomic relations and shape system change. What do these instruments make transparent and sanctionable? Who do they give a voice to and who do they care for? What are the underlying objectives and motivations of accountability mechanisms, and what unintended and unforeseeable consequences do they have on people, organizations, socioecological relations, and politics?

This novel collaboration among four ISA units offers opportunities for intellectual synergies and collaboration. Through this Joint Session, we aim to bring our members and others together to address these questions and chart pathways forward for research and impact.