Rethinking transitions from the South

a dialogue with Raúl Prebisch on periphery, inequality and capitalism

Abstract

The dominant approaches to transitions, especially those focused on climate change and energy, are reviewed, underscoring limitations, incomplete diagnoses, and dependence on interpretations from the Global North. A distinction is made between short transitions, which represent instrumental, managerial, or technological adjustments among varieties of development, and long transitions, that follows alternatives beyond development. We propose rethinking transitions from a situated and plural perspective. Furthermore, transitions cannot be addressed in isolation, as they involve explicit diagnoses of current situations to overcome and the proposed goals for change. They also depend on the social, political, ecological, and historical contexts of each territory and continent in which they are located. Following this posture, the ideas of Raúl Prebisch are revisited, updating and discussing concepts such as center-periphery, unequal trade and accumulation, and the ethics of development, so as to explore their relevance in the formulation of transitions. This analysis contributes to a critical and contextualized view of transitions, incorporating lessons from Latin American structuralist thought.