Ecological modernisation theory: towards a critical ecopolitics of change?

Abstract

The literature on ecological modernisation (EM) is reviewed from a critical political ecology viewpoint. Critical political ecology is centrally concerned with how change in industrial societies occurs. Does the EM literature presently offer a theory of ecopolitical change that is both coherent and relevant to the contexts prevailing today in industrialised countries? Two strands in the EM literature are discussed: the functional and socio-political accounts of change. From the perspective of critical political ecology, EM thinking does not provide an ethically or politically coherent argument for more radical change. The possibilities for elaborating a more nuanced ‘post-EM’ account of ecopolitical change that incorporates a politics of conflict and an expansion of the scope of politics itself are evaluated.