The power to transform structures: power complexes and the challenges for realising a wellbeing economy

This article presents an analytical framework for understanding the barriers to achieving a wellbeing economy by exploring the interplay between agential and structural power. It introduces the concept of 'power complexes' – time-space-specific actor-coalitions with common industry-related interests and the power to reproduce or transform structures. The article examines four power complexes (financial, fossil, livestock-agribusiness, and digital), highlighting their threats to a wellbeing economy's pillars (ecological sustainability, equality, and democracy). It analyzes firm-to-state lobbying as a corporate strategy, using case studies (Blackstone, BP, Bayer, and Alphabet), and outlines challenges for realizing a wellbeing economy based on post-/degrowth visions, emphasizing the need for unconventional alliances, multi-dimensional action, and alternative policy influencing mechanisms.

Richard Bärnthaler, Andreas Novy, Lea Arzberger, Astrid Krisch, Hans Volmary