Unpacking enablers and disablers of transformation: Insights from Central and Eastern Europe as white spots on the global knowledge map

Calls for transformative change have become central to sustainability research and practice. However, most frameworks and empirical insights on how transformation occurs originate from Western Europe or the Global South. This uneven knowledge production leaves Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) largely invisible in advancing the understanding of transformative change mechanisms. This paper addresses this gap by examining efforts to trigger transformative change at the land-food-energy nexus in Czechia. Drawing on stakeholder analysis and in-depth interviews with key transformative actors, we apply the iceberg model as an analytical framework to unpack the enablers and disablers of transformative change at operational, structural, and narrative levels. While operational and structural enablers and disablers largely mirror those identified in Western European contexts (such as the importance of supportive policies, subsidies, and taxation), those at the narrative level diverge significantly. Historical legacies of state-enforced collectivism in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the path-dependencies of post-1989 political-economic transformation, and the rise of contemporary populism together constrain the legitimacy of transformative change anchored in the principles of solidarity, community, and redistribution. To this end, we argue that globally promoted narratives of transformative change may be normatively powerful yet contextually misaligned. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the CEE experience offers valuable insights into how societies negotiate change under conditions of rigid governance, weak traditions of public participation, pervasive individualism, and transformation fatigue stemming from turbulent socio-economic transitions after 1989.