Environmental Political Theory

Steve Vanderheiden is Associate Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

• 1 Introduction and Approach Ideas and environmental politicsSustainability as emergent and disruptive idealSustainability as transformational idealNotes2 Environmental Change and the Sustainability ImperativeEcological limits and sustainability imperativesEcological limits: origins and possible responsesEcological limits and their discontentsInternational responses to ecological limitsEcological limits and US politicsBusiness as usualThe eco-fortressThe just transitionNotes3 FreedomConcepts and conceptionsFreedom as culprit in commons tragediesHardin on the tragedy of the commonsFreedom and incentive structuresNeoliberal freedom and scarcityClassic liberalism and neoliberal freedomLocke’s property theory and provisosNozick’s entitlement theory and the provisoPrometheanism and the provisoNeoliberal freedom and externalitiesIndividuality, consumerism, and sovereigntyConsumerism, consumption, and freedomNeoliberal freedom and harmConclusions: sustainability and the ideal of freedomNotes4 DemocracyDemocracy and the environmentDemocracy as incompatible with sustainability?Environment and democracyReconciling democracy and sustainabilityTwo kinds of democratic legitimacyDemocracy and doughnutsRights as democratic constraints on democracyAlternatives to democracyTechnocracy as alternative to democracyTechnocracy as compatible with democracyReconciling technocracy with democracyEco-authoritarianism as alternative to democracyTechnocracy as antidote to democracy’s failingsReforming environmental democracyGreening democracyDemocracy and global governanceConclusions: environmental change and the democratic idealNotes5 ProgressConceptions of progress within a contested social compassProgress in Western political thoughtAncient and medieval conceptions of progressGrowth-as-progress in early liberalismScarcity and modern conceptions of progressGrowth as core state imperativeProgress reorientedChallenging the growth imperativeWilderness, ecology, and the land ethicToxic chemicals and the war on natureRethinking links between growth and progressToward a post-growth conception of progressThe HDI as progress indexSustainable development goalsGreen growth vs. post-growth conceptionsConclusions: redefining progress to account for ecological limitsNotes6 EqualityEquality as idealFactual and moral equalityEquality between speciesHuman exceptionalismRights and equalityEnvironmental rightsEquality as equivalence: the issue of carbon offsetsCarbon equivalenceOffsets and equity in international carbon tradingEquality and sufficiency: competing standardsAlternatives to equalitySufficiency and sufficientarianismInequality and the environmentConclusions: environmental imperatives and the equality idealNotes7 Agency and ResponsibilityKey concepts in agency and responsibilityAgents and agencyMoral and legal standingEthical individualism and the environmentChallenges to ethical individualismCollectivities, value and moral standingIndividualism, collective responsibility and climate changeClimate change, agency, and responsibilityThreshold effects, harm and responsibilityFragmented agency and responsibilityUncertainty and responsibilityAgents and levels of analysis: who should act?Non-state agents and responsibility for climate changeIndividual agents and remediesHolding persons responsible for climate changeTransparency and responsibility-takingCollective responsibilityConclusions: agency and responsibility and the environmental crisisNotes8 CommunityThe ancient ideal of communityCommunity in modern political thoughtOn anthropocentrismAnthropocentrism and the environmental crisisFrom biotic to planetary communityHuman exceptionalismCultivating planetary communityNational identity and environmental protectionNations and peoples as allies of environmental protectionNationality, territory, and environmentCosmopolitanism and the global communityEthical obligations and distant strangersTheorizing cosmopolitan and planetary membershipEnvironmental citizenship and its associated virtuesGlobal community and common heritageConclusions: environment and the community idealNotes9 SovereigntySovereignty as principle and in practiceElements of sovereigntySovereignty as foe? The debate over the Convention on Biological DiversityStrong sovereignty and isolationist anti-environmentalismAssessing Senate GOP sovereignty claimsDogmatic versus pragmatic sovereigntyTrump and the sovereignty principleThe Trump DoctrineSovereignty and sustainabilityGreening sovereigntyProgressive sovereigntyHumanitarian intervention and the evolution of sovereigntySovereignty and sustainabilityReconstructing sovereigntyConclusions: sovereignty and the ecological crisisNotes10 JusticeRawlsian distributive justiceOther conceptions of justiceEnvironmental justice as social movement objectiveTwo environmental justice campaignsEnvironmental justice movements, discourses, applicationsEnvironment and intergenerational justiceChallenges for intergenerational justice: identity and uncertaintyChallenges for intergenerational justice: currencyNatural resources and the scope and currency of distributive justiceCombining scope and currency in resource accessOn natural resource and climate justiceMitigation and burden-sharing equityAdaptation and equity in remediesConclusions: environment and the justice idealNotes11 Conclusions: The Just and Sustainable SocietyNotesIndex

"Steve Vanderheiden’s Environmental Political Theory is a great piece of engaged political theorising on the most important challenge of this age of the Anthropocene: how do we think about and respond to the climate and ecological emergency? He offers an analytically detailed and careful reappraisal of 'progress' and progressive politics for navigating our increasingly turbulent world. A monumental achievement from one of the world's leading EPT scholars."—John Barry, Queen's University Belfast"The book is a triumph: a confident and engaged discussion by a leading environmental theorist at the top of his game. It is by far the best analysis available of the perils and promise of our most cherished political ideals in an age of environmental crises."—Catriona McKinnon, University of Exeter"... highly accessible, impeccably organised and insightful."Environmental Values