3.1. Selection of case studies, identification of phases of transformation and critical features

We selected cases that recently experienced a large socio-political shock and have a looming ecological crisis. Chile, South Africa and Uzbekistan all underwent significant political disruptions during the 1990s and they are all struggling with ecological crises such as water shortages or declining fish stocks. We delineated the different phases of transformation in each case study based on the timing of the shock (distinction between preparation and navigation phase) and other major changes on the landscape level, but also by the occurrence of new social interactions and change of old ones within the respective governance regime itself (distinction between navigation and stabilizing phase). From the literature, we identified a number of features, which were associated as critical elements of transformations. We then aimed at further structuring our analysis by grouping these features in cognitive, structural and agency-related features. We thus diverge from other approaches grouping along hierarchical levels (O´Brien and Sygna, 2013). This allowed us to trace features such as power or trust across different societal levels. It further enabled us to not only identify but also evaluate the relevance of different sets of features in each case study in the respective phases. We did this using our own field research and the literature (see sources of data below). An extensive analysis of all relevant features can be found in Tables A1–A3 in the Appendix. Here we present key within and cross-level processes within each phase (Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 4) and a summary of key features that facilitated these processes in Table 2, Table 3, Table 4.

Key features of transformative change: Chile. TURFs = territorial user rights for fisheries. For details see Table A1.

Multi-level analysis: Chile (Illustration by J. Lokrantz/Azote).

Multi-level analysis: South Africa (Illustration by J. Lokrantz/Azote).

Key features of transformative change: South Africa. For details see Table A2.

Multi-level analysis: Uzbekistan (Illustration by J. Lokrantz/Azote).

Key features of transformative change: Uzbekistan. For details see Table A3.