Toward a More Globally Attuned Degrowth: Linking Non-Growth Approaches to Direct Democracy and Ecological Sustainability Across Global Divides

Abstract This article contributes to the ongoing efforts to develop a more globally attuned degrowth perspective by placing it in dialogue with post-development scholarship. Together, these two critical frameworks challenge dominant growth-oriented paradigms in distinct geopolitical and epistemological contexts. While degrowth, rooted in the Global North, critiques capitalist expansion and advocates for democratically led downscaling, post-development emerges from the Global South in resistance to colonial legacies and imposed development models. Despite their differences, both approaches converge on the importance of direct democracy as a foundation for ecological sustainability. Through a cross-reading of these literatures focused on this convergence, the article identifies key divergences – particularly in their epistemological foundations, visions of democracy, and understandings of human–nature relations – and in the process points to issues that arguably limit the global attunement of a degrowth perspective. Despite their differences, both the degrowth and post-development frameworks share a commitment to the commons and commoning as transformative practices. This article argues that by linking localized democratic practices for ecological sustainability with plural epistemologies and solidarities, commoning offers a pathway toward a more globally attuned degrowth.