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“Our Best Enemy”: Right to Repair and the Politics of Agonistic Circularity

Monciardini, David ; Fernandez-Montenegro von Schack, Philipp Salvador LU orcid ; Batista-Pritchard, Lívia R. and Richter, Jessika Luth LU orcid (2025) In Organization & Environment 38(4).
Abstract
Circular economy (CE) is both contesting the status quo and a contested idea, for which many competing understandings and implementations exist. And yet, analyses of the role of social conflicts and pluralism are rare in the CE literature, overly focused on convergence and cooperation. To address this research gap, we draw on Mouffe’s “agonistic pluralism” political theory. Empirically, the study focuses on the interplay between different groups of actors in shaping the right to repair (R2R) policy debate in the European Union (EU) context. Deploying a process method consisting of secondary data and semistructured interviews, our analysis shows that productive conflicts between the R2R campaign and manufacturers did foster mutual learning,... (More)
Circular economy (CE) is both contesting the status quo and a contested idea, for which many competing understandings and implementations exist. And yet, analyses of the role of social conflicts and pluralism are rare in the CE literature, overly focused on convergence and cooperation. To address this research gap, we draw on Mouffe’s “agonistic pluralism” political theory. Empirically, the study focuses on the interplay between different groups of actors in shaping the right to repair (R2R) policy debate in the European Union (EU) context. Deploying a process method consisting of secondary data and semistructured interviews, our analysis shows that productive conflicts between the R2R campaign and manufacturers did foster mutual learning, unlikely convergences, and a more pluralist European repair ecosystem. We call this dynamic “agonistic circularity.” We highlight the limits of both “harmonious” and “antagonistic” circularity, outlining a pluralist integrative model of CE politics. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Organization & Environment
volume
38
issue
4
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:105020043195
ISSN
1086-0266
DOI
10.1177/10860266251364566
project
Mapping out and overcoming barriers for circular products: the policy context for corporations that want to “go circular”
JustCE (LEX) – Toward a Just Circular Economy
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3830fe36-c37f-4d5c-a049-88bd072753ba
date added to LUP
2025-12-10 13:38:01
date last changed
2025-12-12 08:13:46
@article{3830fe36-c37f-4d5c-a049-88bd072753ba,
  abstract     = {{Circular economy (CE) is both contesting the status quo and a contested idea, for which many competing understandings and implementations exist. And yet, analyses of the role of social conflicts and pluralism are rare in the CE literature, overly focused on convergence and cooperation. To address this research gap, we draw on Mouffe’s “agonistic pluralism” political theory. Empirically, the study focuses on the interplay between different groups of actors in shaping the right to repair (R2R) policy debate in the European Union (EU) context. Deploying a process method consisting of secondary data and semistructured interviews, our analysis shows that productive conflicts between the R2R campaign and manufacturers did foster mutual learning, unlikely convergences, and a more pluralist European repair ecosystem. We call this dynamic “agonistic circularity.” We highlight the limits of both “harmonious” and “antagonistic” circularity, outlining a pluralist integrative model of CE politics.}},
  author       = {{Monciardini, David and Fernandez-Montenegro von Schack, Philipp Salvador and Batista-Pritchard, Lívia R. and Richter, Jessika Luth}},
  issn         = {{1086-0266}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Organization & Environment}},
  title        = {{“Our Best Enemy”: Right to Repair and the Politics of Agonistic Circularity}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10860266251364566}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/10860266251364566}},
  volume       = {{38}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}