ABSTRACT In this article, we conduct a governmentality analysis of Swedish public procurement in order to show how the notion of sustainability is constructed in this circumstance. We argue that the mainstream approach to sustainability policy in most countries lies within capitalist market rationalities, thus making it crucial to study how such rationalities shape and represent the problems of unsustainability and how these “problems” limit the possibilities for politics and policy in practice. Furthermore, public procurement is a central instrument through which these rationalities are realised and maintained. Thus, the purpose is to examine how problems of unsustainability are represented through public procurement policy and the effects they constitute for the politics of sustainability. To this end we mobilise the Foucauldian based “what’s the problem represented to be” approach. As data, we use policy documents published with respect to public procurement in Sweden. Our findings show that the dominant problem representation constructs unsustainability as a market failure, limiting the possibilities for politics and policies of sustainability in several ways. This includes premising sustainability upon the continued expansion of capitalism; constituting the agents of change as apolitical actors; making sustainability a voluntary ambition for the procuring organisations; and constructing the legitimate claim to earth’s resources and sinks as a matter of purchasing power, with important implications for environmental justice. However, our analysis also shows a tension in the material creating openings for a politicisation of the representations of sustainability.

中文翻译：

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购买可持续社会：瑞典公共采购案例

摘要在本文中，我们对瑞典公共采购进行了政府性分析，以展示在这种情况下可持续性概念是如何构建的。我们认为，大多数国家可持续政策的主流方法在于资本主义市场理性，因此研究这种理性如何塑造和代表不可持续问题以及这些“问题”如何限制政治和政策在实践中的可能性至关重要。此外，公共采购是实现和维护这些合理性的核心工具。因此，目的是研究不可持续性问题如何通过公共采购政策表现出来，以及它们对可持续性政治的影响。为此，我们动员了基于福柯的“问题是什么”的方法。作为数据，我们使用有关瑞典公共采购的政策文件。我们的研究结果表明，占主导地位的问题表征将不可持续性构建为市场失灵，以多种方式限制了政治和可持续性政策的可能性。这包括以资本主义的持续扩张为前提的可持续性；将变革推动者视为非政治行为者；使可持续性成为采购组织的自愿目标；并将对地球资源和汇的合法要求视为购买力问题，这对环境正义具有重要意义。然而，