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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Promoting ecological citizenship: towards a conceptual framework

subject

description

Citizenship has been a hot topic of debate within the green literature since the 1990s. Concepts like ecological and environmental citizenship capture the linkage between green politics and theories of citizenship. Although a significant number of contributions to the meaning of ecological/environmental citizenship have been made, their practical implications remain under-theorized. With the purpose of addressing this gap, my paper explores the conditions necessary for ecological citizenship to flourish. While pointing to the connection between questions of meaning and promotion, I seek to move debates from discussions on the theoretical concept to the possibilities for its cultivation. Two main trends aimed at fostering green notions of citizenship are highlighted and analyzed, namely, the rights approach and the personal duty approach. I explain why I find these two tendencies problematic, and contend that a third approach on the issue of promotion is needed, that is, one that transcends the individual. My claim is that a civil society perspective has to be introduced when thinking about the practice of ecological citizenship. Finally, I conclude by advancing a framework – based on political agency – for further research on the obstacles and possibilities for the promotion of ecological citizenship. Citizenship has been a hot topic of debate within the green literature since the 1990s. Concepts like ecological and environmental citizenship capture the linkage between green politics and theories of citizenship. Although a significant number of contributions to the meaning of ecological/environmental citizenship have been made, their practical implications remain under-theorized. With the purpose of addressing this gap, my paper explores the conditions necessary for ecological citizenship to flourish. While pointing to the connection between questions of meaning and promotion, I seek to move debates from discussions on the theoretical concept to the possibilities for its cultivation. Two main trends aimed at fostering green notions of citizenship are highlighted and analyzed, namely, the rights approach and the personal duty approach. I explain why I find these two tendencies problematic, and contend that a third approach on the issue of promotion is needed, that is, one that transcends the individual. My claim is that a civil society perspective has to be introduced when thinking about the practice of ecological citizenship. Finally, I conclude by advancing a framework – based on political agency – for further research on the obstacles and possibilities for the promotion of ecological citizenship.