ABSTRACT

Introduction The characterization of green politics as either "anarchistic" or a modern form of anarchism has wide currency. Both within and without the green movement, its distinctiveness is held to reside in its embodiment of traditional anarchist values for modern ecological conditions. This self understanding is particularly evident in the almost complete monopolization of the green imagination by an anarchist vision of the society greens would like to create. The many pastoral utopias that litter green political literature, a society made up of small scale, face to face, decentralized ecologically sensitive communities, pay eloquent testimony to the common judgement that "greens are basically libertarians-cumanarchists" (Goodin, 1992, p.152). While soviets plus electrification equalled socialism for Lenin, it seems that for many green theorists, activists, and commentators stateless, selfgoverning communities plus solar power equals the "sustainable society". No matter how beguiling this "small is beautiful" political theory is, one must always remember that beauty is largely in the eyes of the beholder. There are problems with eco anarchism, not least of which is that often greens are blind to the need for developing a critical political theory with reasoned principles as well as promises of a better future. The aim of this essay is not to banish the eco anarchist vision from the green pantheon, but to attempt a critical dialogue with it and to propose a more appropriate reintegration of its insights into green political theory.