ABSTRACT
If it is accepted that green politics should be clearly distinguished from environmentalism then it follows that green politics should aspire to be more than a form of single issue politics. This is the position adopted by Andrew Dobson who argues that ecologism is indeed an ideology in the conventional sense in that it seeks to offer an account of the social and political world, prescribes action, and at the same time motivates appropriate activity (Dobson 1990). If ecologism is indeed such an ideology it should be able to inform social choice across a range of policy areas. Social Democrats tend to favour forms of state intervention and regulation and justify this by reference to the value of equality. Liberals believe that free markets are the most effective way to provide necessary and desired goods and services, and appeal to the value of freedom to legitimate this belief. These divergent legitimating principles have given rise to quite distinctive models of social welfare (George and Wilding 1985). This chapter is addressed to the question of whether green political theory does yield such a model of welfare, or at least implies a distinctive approach to social policy.
