Can liberal democracies thrive with consumption limits? Barriers to implementing consumption corridors

Abstract

In sustainability debates, the concept of consumption corridors (CCs) has gained prominence. CCs are understood to achieve a good life for all within planetary boundaries. This concept operates on the premise that setting upper limits to consumption is in principle feasible within liberal democracies. But to what extent, if at all, are upper limits to consumption compatible with liberal democracy? In this article, we argue that the tensions between CCs and liberal democracy may run deeper than proponents of CCs suggest. Because consumption plays a constitutive role in social reconciliation, the formation and exercise of autonomy, and democratic legitimacy in liberal democracies, introducing upper limits may indeed hit harder boundaries – boundaries that sufficiency approaches to reducing consumption (and production) levels increasingly face in the current political landscape. Sharing the normative horizon of a good life for all, we propose that for CCs to become a viable lever for transformative change, a deeper analysis of existing barriers may be in order.