Governing systems transitions: theoretical and empirical explorations

This editorial introduces this special issue on the governance and governability of societal system transitions towards sustainability. This debate recently seems to be dominated by a wave of studies that more or less are inspired by the ideas of the so-called transition management approach. In order to broaden this debate, authors from various countries and a variety of theoretical and practical backgrounds are invited to explore sustainability transitions and their governance from a theoretical and/or empirical perspective. This editorial presents some core concepts, theoretical notions and problems that underlie the thinking on sustainability transitions. Next, it introduces the contributions that are part of this special issue and the research questions that they address.