Stagnation

Abstract

Much work in geography and throughout the natural and social sciences in the last fifty years has been preoccupied with the notion of growth. The same is true of contemporary politics where the success or otherwise of governments has often been judged, by the electorate, in terms of the growth which they have been able to deliver. Discussion of economic growth commonly dominates election campaigns. Stagnation is the very opposite of growth. A fixation on growth in contemporary society has meant that relatively little attention has been paid to stagnation. Where it has been considered, it has invariably been treated as a problem and as a failure to develop.