Power in transition: An interdisciplinary framework to study power in relation to structural change

This article conceptualizes power in the context of long-term process of struc-tural change. First, it discusses the field of transition studies, which deals with processes of structural change in societal systems on the basis of certain presumptions about power relations, but still lacks an explicit conceptual-ization of power. Then the article discusses some prevailing points of contes-tation in debates on power. It is argued that for the context of transition studies, it is necessary to develop an interdisciplinary framework in which power is explicitly conceptualized in relation to change. Subsequently, such a framework is presented, with reference to existing literature on power. Starting with a philosophical and operational definition of power, a typology is developed of the different ways in which power can be exercised, explicitly including innovative power and transformative power. Finally, the presented power framework is applied to transition studies, redefining pivotal transi-tion concepts in terms of power and formulating hypotheses on the role o