Farewell to the green movement? Political action and the green public sphere

Abstract

Promising a new kind of politics, green politics might seem at odds with the instrumentalism of modern governance. With its various reformist and radical commitments, though, the green movement itself often appears distinctly and paradoxically instrumentalist. Some theorists would defend a strictly instrumental focus, but tendencies in both theory and practice affirm the importance of democratic citizenship and political action. The significance of this affirmation remains uncertain because green political thought has yet to address clearly a key question: the meaning of political action. Drawing critically on the work of Hannah Arendt, this essay addresses that question by identifying three dimensions of politics relevant to green politics and focusing attention on the importance of the green public sphere.