ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the most important beliefs that are currently obstructing our understanding of how such social and ecological transformation can succeed. The first myth is that technological progress – the shift to cleaner, greener, more efficient means of producing goods and services – shall suffice to achieve the transformation at the scale and within the timeframe required. The second myth is that green capitalism shall provide the answers to the environmental challenges we face, provided we manage to create the right set of incentives for economic actors to move in the right direction, by encouraging critical consumers to “vote with their wallet”. The third myth is that societal transformation can be achieved by the State apparatus, provided it is allowed to effectively take bold decisions without being hindered by the various counter-forces that it currently faces. The fourth myth finally is that citizens-led social innovations, emerging outside the spheres of the market and the State, can thrive and expand so as to create viable and credible alternatives to both these spheres, with society-wide impacts. This chapter explores these beliefs and shows the limitations of each: the idea of the Enabling State emerges once we move away from a representation of the State that operates in a top-down fashion to impose a transformation from above, towards the idea of a State that accepts to learn, by supporting local experimentation and empowering communities to come up with their own solutions.
