Global Environmental Politics

by Lipschutz, Ronnie D.

• ISBN13: 9781568027494
• ISBN10: 1568027494
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Cq Pr

Summary

Traditional views of global environmental politics take the structures and relations of international politics as a given. Solutions to environmental problems, then, must be products of concession, negotiation, and inevitable compromise&BAD:-a world of top-down planetary management. Lipschutz challenges students to question these conventional approaches. He argues that much light can be shed on global environmental degradation if we look beyond the politics of conflict and cooperation and explore environmental problems from their very &BAD:"roots.&BAD:"Using a framework that accounts for the ontologies, material conditions, and power relations that structure global environmental problems, Lipschutz is able to more effectively question attempts to clean up the globe and sustain the world's natural resources. Throughout the text, the author uses compelling cases to illustrate the effects of globalization and capitalism, yet is careful to make the link between the local and the global to show how we, as individuals, are both consumers of goods and producers of pollution.A powerful new approachHow is the financing of a water system in Bolivia linked to long-standing forestation practices in India?Taking nothing for granted, the root causes of major global environmental problems are exposed and subjected to rigorous analysis. Lipschutz shows, for instance, how privatization operates in different global contexts with strikingly similar consequences.In what ways are liberalism and realism actually two sides of the same coin?Both make self-interest&BAD:-of the individual and of the state&BAD:-key operating terms. In a revealing comparison, Lipschutz explores the limits of these dominant political models to effectively frame and solve environmental problems.What kinds of political, social, and environmental practices bring about meaningful change?By emphasizing the global impacts of local actions, the text shows how attempts to control environmental problems may actually reproduce the very systems they are meant to ameliorate.Combined with practical pedagogyRich historical background helps contextualize contemporary issues.Extensive suggested reading lists at the end of each chapter guide students to further research, while tables and figures elegantly show data and concepts.The emphasis on assessing the root causes of global environmental problems and models encourages critical thinking. Students are also encouraged to rethink their own role in the global environmental system and to get involved in effective forms of social change.

Author Biography

Ronnie D. Lipschutz is professor of politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he teaches courses on foreign policy, international politics, global environmental politics, ecological philosophy, and cold war film and fiction. He is the associate director of the Center for Global, International, and Regional Studies at UCSC and chair of the Environmental Studies Section of the International Studies Association

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	p. viii
Preface	p. ix
What Are "Global Environmental Politics?"	p. 1
Bananas	p. 1
Thinking about Bananas and Other Such Things	p. 3
Historical Materialism	p. 8
Power	p. 11
Ontology	p. 14
Thinking Socially	p. 18
The Many Roles of Nature	p. 19
Institutions for the Earth?	p. 21
What's in the Rest of This Book?	p. 25
Our Home Is Our Habitat, Our Habitat Is Our Home	p. 30
For Further Reading	p. 31
Deconstructing "Global Environment"	p. 33
Thinking Green	p. 33
Philosophy, Ontology, Epistemology	p. 34
Humans and Nature	p. 36
Environmental Ontologies	p. 38
Environmental Philosophies	p. 40
Deconstructing Environmental Philosophies	p. 43
Competition	p. 43
Cooperation	p. 51
Development	p. 59
Against Domination: Resistance Is Fertile!	p. 75
Thinking Ahead	p. 85
For Further Reading	p. 85
Capitalism, Globalization, and the Environment	p. 87
Effluents and Affluence	p. 87
Money, That's What I Want!	p. 90
Creating Property: The Scarcity Factor	p. 91
Externalities: Things for Which No One Pays	p. 97
Consumers 'R Us	p. 99
Wealth: Is It Good for the Environment?	p. 105
What's Nature Worth?	p. 108
Globalization and the Environment	p. 121
Chains, Chains, Chains!	p. 122
What Do You Know, and When Did You Know It?	p. 126
Can Capitalism Be Saved?	p. 128
Want Not, Waste Not?	p. 129
For Further Reading	p. 130
Civic Politics and Social Power: Environmental Politics "On the Ground"	p. 132
All Environmental Politics Are Local	p. 132
Why All Environmental Politics Are Local	p. 134
History, Political Economy, and Place	p. 135
The Structures of Contemporary Political Economy	p. 139
The Power of Social Power	p. 142
Is Collective Action a Problem?	p. 142
Collective Action Is Not a Problem	p. 144
Social Power: Against "Realism"	p. 146
The Origins of Contemporary Social Power	p. 149
Consciousness-raising	p. 151
Resource Mobilization	p. 153
Is Party Politics the Answer?	p. 156
Praxis: Agents Coming to Grips with Structure	p. 159
Social Power in Action	p. 162
Watershed Groups: The Mattole Restoration Council	p. 163
Environmental Justice: Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes	p. 166
Consumer vs. Corporation: "Doing It" in the Market	p. 168
Local Politics, Global Politics	p. 175
For Further Reading	p. 175
The National Origins of International Environmental Policies and Practices: "My Country Is in the World"	p. 177
The State and the Environment	p. 177
International Environmental Regimes: The Standard Account and Some Caveats	p. 179
The Historical National Origins of Environmental Internationalism	p. 183
The Contemporary National Origins of Environmental (Inter)nationalism	p. 185
Tales of Privatization	p. 188
Making Scarce Water Even Scarcer	p. 189
Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees	p. 194
Genes and Markets	p. 207
How International Are International Environmental Regimes?	p. 211
A Successful Case of Environmental Internationalism	p. 218
Are There International Environmental Politics?	p. 222
For Further Reading	p. 223
Global Environmental Politics and You: "The World Is My Country"	p. 224
Into the Streets!	p. 224
Markets Are Not Politics	p. 228
Is Everything for Sale?	p. 228
The Deal We Can't Refuse?	p. 231
Toward an Environmental Ethic	p. 233
Toward an Environmental Praxis	p. 237
Global Environmental Politics from the Ground Up	p. 240
A Final Manifesto	p. 242
For Further Reading	p. 243
Notes	p. 245
Index	p. 277
Citations of Authors	p. 286
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