Green Politics, Green Economics: The Basics of Ecology

Green Politics, Green Economics analyzes the dominant model of economic growth promoted everywhere and shows how it can be seen to account for the general crisis humanity faces as nature everywhere is in retreat. There are two intersecting economic reasons for the current situation: the changing world economy and the experience of reaching the limits of capitalist production and growth. The responses of governments and corporations to the weaknesses of the prevailing economic practices are noted and a critique is lucidly presented, which minimally includes the reorganization of work, the future of professional relations, the basic reform of the welfare state, the development of free time, the democratization of urban society, and the changes in international power relations.

This brilliant work probes the many facets of capitalism’s ecological contradictions and dares to ask the basic question—is sustainable development possible under market capitalism? It is a sobering and timely antidote to the current rash of publications touting a successful marriage of the corporate marketplace with the goals of environmental quality and social justice, in a context where corporations, big and small, are tripping over each other to wash themselves green. The economic system is also examined in the light of the liberal democratic state’s inability to manage environmental problems domestically or internationally, whether managed by the right wing or the left wing. How to come out of this impasse is what this rigorous text examines.

M.Athena Palaeologu is a long-time researcher and activist, exploring solutions reflecting social ecology. She holds a PhD in politics and economics.