Repoliticising the CE: Sen’s Theory of Justice and the Ideologies Shaping Circular Transitions

Abstract The circular economy has emerged as a dominant sustainability framework, yet its rapid institutionalisation obscures critical questions about power, equity, and justice in industrial transitions. This article challenges the technocratic framing prevalent in circular economy discourse by developing an integrative framework that centres distributional, procedural, and recognitional justice alongside environmental performance. We synthesise critical scholarship on circular economy depoliticisation with Sen's theory of justice to reveal how ostensibly neutral technical choices embody political commitments with differential impacts across social groups and geographies. Our framework illuminates how different ideological orientations, from green anarchism to environmental authoritarianism, shape circular transitions and generate distinct justice outcomes. We argue that industrial ecology must expand beyond material flow analysis to incorporate justice assessment, moving from win-win assumptions toward honest engagement with the conflicts and trade-offs inherent in economic transformation. This shift is essential for the circular economy to deliver genuine sustainability rather than optimising existing inequalities within circular loops.