THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY: between Eco-nationalism and Just Transition
JUNE 29 - JULY 2
In the context of the environmental crisis and growing social inequalities changes in international relations are increasingly challenging the dominant paradigm of globalization that has shaped the global economy in recent decades. Due to the destabilization of supply chains, escalating geopolitical tensions, and the exceeding of ecological limits, concepts such as self-sufficiency and sovereignty are receiving more attention in both academic discourse and political practice.
Calls for self-sufficiency frequently challenge our reliance on global markets and fossil fuel-based infrastructure, as well as the profit-driven nature of the economy. Various community initiatives at the local level strive for self-sufficiency in food and energy to reduce the environmental footprints, reclaim collective autonomy, and experiment with decommodified forms of living.
At the same time, the intensification of interstate competition is giving rise to the importance of ideas of national self-sufficiency, with contradictory effects. Strategic autonomy is an important goal, particularly for countries in a subordinate position within the world system. However, the pursuit of self-sufficiency can reinforce authoritarian statism and undermine international cooperation.
In the realms of ideas and politics, the concepts of self-sufficiency and sovereignty appear across a broad ideological spectrum. These range from anarchist and eco-socialist perspectives, which emphasize democratic participation and ecological constraints, to nationalist and neo-fascist projects that instrumentalize self-sufficiency to legitimize exclusion, militarization, and authoritarian rule.
The International Summer School of Political Ecology 2026 aims to provide greater conceptual clarity around self-sufficiency and critically examine its various political meanings. While identifying the political dangers inherent in calls for self-sufficiency, we will focus on the emancipatory potential of these ideas, which could contribute to a just green transition.
The International Summer School of Political Ecology invites students, researchers, academics, activists, non-governmental professionals, and anyone interested in the nexus of ecological and social issues. Participation is FREE!
Faculty of Social Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia
JUNE 29 - JULY 2 2026
ULRICH BRAND
is Professor of International Politics at the University of Vienna. His research interests include international politics, critical analyses of globalization and its political regulation, and the intersections of state, economy, and ecology. Together with Markus Wissen, Brand introduced the concept of the imperial mode of living. Their latest book is titled Capitalism at the Limit: A Political Ecology of a World in Crisis (Verso).
HIBIST WENDEMU KASSA
is a Research Associate in Community, Adult & Workers’ Education at the University of Johannesburg. She is also a member of the Institute for Environmental Futures at the University of Leicester. She has published on artisanal mining policy and social reproduction. She also edited a Special Issue on African Resource Sovereignty: Development or Environmental Vandalism? in the New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy published by the Institute for AfricanAlternatives.
ANDREA GHELFI
is a researcher in environmental and territorial sociology at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Florence. His studies and publications combine an interest in agroecology and ecological movements with theoretical research on the emergence of a new ecological materialism. Among his publications, we can mention La Condizione Ecologica and his editorial work on Connessioni ecologiche. His publications in English include articles Ungovernable Earth: Resurgence, Translocal Infrastructures and More-than-Social Movements and Ecological Transition: What It Is and How to Do It.
MORGAN ODY
is a small-scale farmer in Brittany, France. She is the general coordinator of La Via Campesina, the global peasant movement. She has been active in advocating for food sovereignty, agroecology, peasant rights, agrarian reform and popular feminism. She has also being promoting a new international trade framework based on food sovereignty.
MARTÍN LALLANA
is an eco-socialist militant, a member of the editorial team of the magazine Viento Sur, and has published numerous articles on strategic discussion and an ecological transition officer of the LAB trade union (Basque Country).With a background in industrial engineering and renewable energy, he worked as a researcher at the University of Zaragoza. He has produced reports on the future demand for metals for Spain’s energy transition (Ecologistas en Acción, 2021; Friends of the Earth Spain, 2023).
MANUELA ZECHNER
is a researcher, educator and organiser. She co-founded the Common Ecologies school, produces the Earthcare Fieldcast and is affiliated with the Centre for Applied Ecological Thinking at Copenhagen University. Her book The Plot is on Fire: Care Struggles after Progress, Plantation and Patriarchy has just been published by Pluto Press.
HENRIQUE TAHAN NOVAES
is Professor of Philosophy and Sciences at UNESP (São Paulo State University), Brazil. He teaches and researches at the intersection of philosophy, social science, and education. He published Associated Labor and Production in the Age of Barbarism: Education Beyond Capital, a critical examination of associated labour, self-management practices and the potential for education beyond capitalist frameworks. He is also co-author of Destructive Production, Agroecology and Schools of Agroecology in Brazil, which explores struggles against destructive production and the development of agroecological alternatives within Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement.
APPLICATIONS
REASONS TO JOIN US:
- Earn credits through accredited participation for PhD and Master students (5 ECTS / 3 ECTS).
- Immerse yourself in cutting-edge green transition research with leading international and Slovene researchers and practitioners.
- Develop critical thinking about strategies for implementing the green transition.
- Enjoy summer school without fees.
- Engage in interactive activities in the evenings, as well as discover Ljubljana.
Applications for the International Summer School of Political Ecology are now open! Find out more by consulting the application form below.
You can view highlights and lectures from past editions by following the link below.
APPLY
Accredited programme
Application for Master and Doctoral Students with possibility of obtaining ECTS credits.
SUBMITTING THE PAPERS
First phase
Accepted applicants for the Accredited programme need to submit full papers by the due date.
The papers should be submitted in English. The paper must include the author’s full name, mentor or supervisor, name of university, title, abstract and keywords, and the main text with sources.
Students will have the opportunity to present their papers at student seminars (app. 15 min presentation) or at a poster fair (visual presentation) during the Summer School.
Second phase
After the International Summer School students will have the opportunity to additionally edit their
papers with insights gained at the Summer School; the papers must be proofread; the papers will be peer-reviewed and eventually returned to the authors for
correction; the papers will be published in the proceedings of the Summer School in both printed
and electronic versions.
Accepted applicants will receive detalied instructions by e-mail about the paper submission and about the possibilites of presentation of the paper at the Summer School.
A submitted paper is required to recieve 3 (MA) or 5 (PhD) ECTS.
organizatorji
LIFE IP CARE4CLIMATE (LIFE17 IPC/SI/000007) is an integrated project, financed by the European Comission's LIFE Programme, the Slovenian Climate Fund and partners' own contributions.
The opinions expressed in this document are those of the author(s) only and should not be considered as representative of the European Union's official position.
English (UK) 
Slovenščina