ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explore two central dimensions of the conceptual terrain covered by the knowledge politics perspectives – politics and power – and their relationship with knowledge production and consumption. I start by introducing the encompassing definition of politics that underpins our analytical endeavours in this volume and examine how and why knowledge matters politically in the study of pathways to sustainability, using the New York Highline Park as a case study. It is widely recognised that transitions necessarily involve fundamental changes in extant power relations, but the concept of power is understood in a myriad of different ways. After introducing some of the principal ways in which power is understood, I review how it has been conceptualised and analysed in those parts of the transitions literature that address power explicitly. This review highlights, amongst other things: a predilection for understanding transitions in terms of relations of domination and subordination; a focus on human agency and empowerment in seeking to explain opportunities for radical change; and, limited consideration of the conceptualisation of power that underpins the knowledge politics perspective.
