ABSTRACT

In recent decades, environmental issues have increasingly been incorporated into liberal democratic thought and political practice. Environmentalism and ecologism have become fashionable, even respectable schools of political thought. This apparently successful integration of environmental movements, issues and ideas in mainstream politics raises the question of whether there is a future for what once was a counter-movement and counter-ideology. Liberal Democracy and Environmentalism provides a reflective assessment of recent developments, social relevance and future of environmental political theory, concluding that although the alleged pacification of environmentalism is more than skin deep, it is not yet quite deep enough. This book will appeal to students and researchers of social science and philosophers with an interest in environmental issues.

chapter |22 pages

2 The role of environmentalism

From The Silent Spring to The Silent Revolution

part |39 pages

Part I The faces of endism

part |40 pages

Part II Democracy and environmentalism

part |39 pages

Part III The good and green society

part |44 pages

Part IV Perspectives and possibilities

chapter |12 pages

12 Sustainability and plurality

From the moderate end of the liberal equilibrium to the open end of a situated liberal neutrality

chapter |12 pages

13 The minimum irreversible harm principle

Green inter-generational liberalism

chapter |14 pages

14 From environmental politics to the politics of the environment

The pacification and normalization of environmentalism?