Open Access

Amanda Machin, Glorio Ziglioli, Fabio Schojan, Alexander Ruser

• State governments around the world have pledged to decarbonize their economies and facilitate a sustainability transformation. But transformation requires imagination; the possibilities for the state to promote, forge, or obstruct a path toward a more sustainable future hinge not only on the ability to make strategic policy revisions but more fundamentally on the political imaginaries that help to configure the expectations of policymakers and the public about what is possible and feasible - and what is not. This article offers a comparative analysis of imaginaries of the "sustainable state" appearing in key policy documents and strategies in four countries. Using critical discourse analysis, we map four imaginaries: ecological modernity inState governments around the world have pledged to decarbonize their economies and facilitate a sustainability transformation. But transformation requires imagination; the possibilities for the state to promote, forge, or obstruct a path toward a more sustainable future hinge not only on the ability to make strategic policy revisions but more fundamentally on the political imaginaries that help to configure the expectations of policymakers and the public about what is possible and feasible - and what is not. This article offers a comparative analysis of imaginaries of the "sustainable state" appearing in key policy documents and strategies in four countries. Using critical discourse analysis, we map four imaginaries: ecological modernity in Germany; ecological stewardship in Norway, energy security in Italy, and green growth in the UK. The article thus offers insight into the different expectations in relation to agency, technology, temporality, and rationality in driving and maintaining sustainability and reflects upon the impact of these imaginaries. Our analysis indicates that while these imaginaries of the sustainable state vary significantly, they generally promote technological innovation and market mechanisms and cover up some of the inevitable disagreements and challenges of transformation.…