Assemblage thinking and just transition: Theoretical building blocks of just transition assemblage

Abstract

It is important for just transition studies to go beyond the idealistic approach grounded in philosophical concepts such as distributive, procedural, and recognition justice to attend to the nuances and messiness of reality. To this end, this theoretical paper reconceptualizes just transition through the lens of assemblage thinking. Assemblage thinking, with its emphasis on relationality, emergence, and heterogeneity, provides a useful lens for understanding just transitions as multi-dimensional, dynamic, spontaneous, and non-predetermined phenomena. We propose four theoretical building blocks to conceptualize just transitions as assemblages: (1) multiplicity of relations; (2) spatiotemporal embeddedness and dynamic processuality; (3) desire-driven labor and non-human agency; and (4) emergence and uncertainty. Taken together, these building blocks demonstrate the value of the assemblage approach in capturing how just transition practices emerge, evolve, and dissolve, as well as how power operates through these diverse processes.