Living with Nature: Environmental Politics as Cultural Discourse

by Frank Fischer (Editor), Maarten Hajer (Editor)

Overview

Despite the optimism of the 'Earth Summit' held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the politics of environmental sustainable development has reached an impasse. Why do issues of environmental protection continue to take a back seat to economic competition, particularly in the international realm? Once the environmental problem was widely recognised, it was held that consensus could be reached. In practice, however, the development of sustainability had often continued to merely extend earlier technocratic practices and solutions, which fail to take into consideration the specific cultural questions. Living With Nature seeks to place the question of the dynamics of environmental crisis within a socio-cultural dimension of the existing economic and political institutions. The book argues for a need to find a new balance between a theoretical analysis of the debate and an appreciation of local circumstances, norms and knowledge. Politically, it implies an implicit understanding of the way in which we live together with nature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191522420
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	06/24/1999
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	609 KB

About the Author

Frank Fischer is a Professor of Political Science at Rugers and member of Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. Maarten Hajer is a Professor of Political Science University of Amsterdam.

Table of Contents

PART I. THE CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT1. Sustainable Development and the Crisis of Nature: On the Political Anatomy of an Oxymoron, Wolfgang Sachs2. The North as/and the Other: Ecology, Domination, Solidarity, Yrjo Haila3. Nature in Spiritual Traditions: Social and Cultural Implications for Environmental Change, Carolyn EgriPART II. DISCOURSE IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND EXPERTISE4 Engineering the Environment: The Politics of Nature Development, Josef Keulartz.5. Eco-managerialism: Environmental Studies as a Power/Knowledge Formation, Timothy Luke6. Mapping Complex Socio-Natural Relationships: Cases from Mexico and Africa, Peter Taylor7. Security and Solidarity: Toward an Anti-Reductionist Framework for the Analysis of Environmental Policy, Michael ThompsonPART III. ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCE8. The Environment of Justice, David Harvey9. Images of Place in Green Politics: The Cultural Mirror of Indigenous Traditions, Douglas Torgerson10. Partnership Ethics and Cultural Discourse: Women and the Earth Summit, Carolyn Merchant