Transformative Realism

What is Transformative Realism? It is the recognition that in order to overcome the financial, euro, climate, democracy, corona crises, we need to transform our political, economic, social, and cultural order from head to toe. However, a reality check shows that transformative politics does not seem feasible. The challenge is not so much that there are no solutions to our problems or that there are no actors willing to make a change. A realistic view of the balance of societal forces shows that those who benefit from, or believe that they benefit from the status quo form a formidable bloc of resistance which no social movement, social entrepreneur or even nation state can break through by themselves.

Transformative Realism means that in order to transform the status quo, all politics must be understood as rooted in the balance of societal forces, and must aim to shift this balance of power. So this book is less about the crises crippling our societies, nor the policy solutions to them. It is not about the why and what of change, but about the how.