Chapter 6 Towards a model of green political economy: From ecological modernisation to economic security

Abstract

Perhaps the weakest dimension of the ‘triple bottom line’ understanding of sustainable development has been the ‘economic’ dimension. Much of the thinking about the appropriate ‘political economy’ to underpin sustainable development has been either utopian (as in some ‘green’ political views) or ‘business as usual’ approaches. This chapter suggests that ‘ecological modernisation’ is the dominant conceptualisation of ‘sustainable development’ within the United Kingdom and illustrates this by looking at some key ‘sustainable development’ policy documents from the UK Government. Although critical of the reformist ‘policy telos’ of ecological modernisation, supporters of more radical version of sustainable development also need to be aware of the strategic opportunities of this policy discourse. In particular, the chapter suggests that the discourse of ‘economic security’ ought to be used as a way of articulating a radical, robust and principled understanding of sustainable development, which offers a normatively compelling and policy-relevant path to outline a ‘green political economy’ to underpin sustainable development.

Citation

Barry, J. (2010), "Chapter 6 Towards a model of green political economy: From ecological modernisation to economic security", Leonard, L. and Barry, J. (Ed.) Global Ecological Politics (Advances in Ecopolitics, Vol. 5), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 109-128. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2041-806X(2010)0000005010