6533b825fe1ef96bd1281af4

RESEARCH PRODUCT

The ecological state, environmental democracy and ecological citizenship: a productive relationship?

subject

description

This contribution focuses on this relationship and asks whether it is a productive one. My aim is twofold. On one front, I examine the political system of the ecological state in view of assessing the ways in which it could encourage ecological citizenship. On a second front, I pay attention to how eco-states are going to emerge and be sustained, and in this sense, the role ecological citizens shall play in this task is stressed. This analysis is undertaken from a green political theory perspective. I take as a point of departure Robyn Eckersley’s theory of the green state (2004) for various reasons, namely, because it is, in my view, the most sophisticated and comprehensive analysis of the ecological state, and because it strongly places democracy and citizenship at the core of the state. Drawing on this particular conception of the ecological state, I seek to address the following issues: How is ecological citizenship conceived by a green state? How would a green state promote ecological citizenship? And how could ecological citizens contribute to the emergence of a green state? Through these questions the potential of the ecological state as an agent for ecological citizenship transformation is assessed. This contribution focuses on this relationship and asks whether it is a productive one. My aim is twofold. On one front, I examine the political system of the ecological state in view of assessing the ways in which it could encourage ecological citizenship. On a second front, I pay attention to how eco-states are going to emerge and be sustained, and in this sense, the role ecological citizens shall play in this task is stressed. This analysis is undertaken from a green political theory perspective. I take as a point of departure Robyn Eckersley’s theory of the green state (2004) for various reasons, namely, because it is, in my view, the most sophisticated and comprehensive analysis of the ecological state, and because it strongly places democracy and citizenship at the core of the state. Drawing on this particular conception of the ecological state, I seek to address the following issues: How is ecological citizenship conceived by a green state? How would a green state promote ecological citizenship? And how could ecological citizens contribute to the emergence of a green state? Through these questions the potential of the ecological state as an agent for ecological citizenship transformation is assessed.