Search results

"The Political Ecology of Austerity explores the scholarly and political debates surrounding the environmental dimension of austerity policies that has thus far escaped academic, policy and media attention. By contributing to a better comprehension of the full socio-environmental impact of austerity measures, the book highlights the importance of considering environmental issues when analysing austerity and in designing alternative responses to economic crisis in the future. Mobilising detailed case studies from across the western world, the volume documents the ways in which austerity impacts global and local ecologies and peoples, and shapes and gives rise to environmental conflicts and new forms and practices of social mobilization and resistance. By bringing together theoretical debates and rigorous case-study analysis, the book proposes the concept of 'the political ecology of austerity' as an academic and policy relevant term, and political ecology as an appropriate method of analysis that can inform our understanding of the significant shift in environmental protection policies and growth ideologies that we have witnessed over the past decade in the western world at the aftermath of the economic crisis. The Political Ecology of Austerity reveals austerity as neither a "rational" panacea for economic recovery, nor an "irrational" policy that further deepens the economic crisis. Rather, the volume discloses austerity to be a globalised set of tools not only for budgetary discipline, but also for socio-environmental discipline that justifies the continuation of growth-focused global environmental degradation. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of social and political sciences, environmental studies, urban studies and political ecology"--

The article examines austerity as a policy and practice that is dangerous not only for human societies and economies, but also for more-than-human ecologies and lives. Often presented as an economic tool that can 'fix' an economic crisis, austerity nevertheless carries serious environmental consequences which are not systematically documented or theorized. Here, we sketch a political ecology agenda for understanding austerity as environmental politics, focusing on three facets. First, austerity as justification for intensifying environmental destruction in the name of economic recovery. Second, austerity as a catalyst for increasing socio-environmental inequality, exacerbating colonial extractivism, and complexifying North/South binaries. Third, austerity as a socio-environmental condition that can kindle innovative environmental protection movements; but can also exacerbate climate denialism and new forms of 'othering.' The framework we offer here is pertinent at the aftermath of consecutive economic, pandemic, and inflation-induced austerity periods, when aggressive pro-growth agendas fast become normalized as prime recovery strategies. 

A manual product of the ENTITLE project designed for the use of civil society organisations and active citizens. The book offers an accessible insight into political ecology issues and provides intellectual and practical tools based from the experiences of the new generation of political ecologists trained within the project. Organized around the 5 main themes of the ENTITLE project: environmental conflicts, disaster capitalism, social movements, commons, and democracy, the book explains what is the contribution of a political ecology approach, defines key concepts and illustrates theories, methods and tools through a case studies' approach so to provide readers with accessible and transferable knowledge. The manual also seeks to reflect on how different scholars have defined this scholar-activist relation and to enhance collaborations between civil society and academia for the purpose of transforming current unjust and unsustainable social ecological arrangements.

The planetary boundaries concept has profoundly changed the vocabulary and representation of global environmental issues. We bring a critical social science perspective to this framework through the notion of societal boundaries and aim to provide a more nuanced understanding of the social nature of thresholds. We start by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of planetary boundaries from a social science perspective. We then focus on capitalist societies as a heuristic for discussing the expansionary dynamics, power relations, and lock-ins of modern societies that impel highly unsustainable societal relations with nature. While formulating societal boundaries implies a controversial process ‒ based on normative judgments, ethical concerns, and socio-political struggles ‒ it has the potential to offer guidelines for a just, social-ecological transformation. Collective autonomy and the politics of self-limitation are key elements of societal boundaries and are linked to important proposals and pluriverse experiences to integrate well-being and boundaries. The role of the state and propositions for radical alternative approaches to well-being have particular importance. We conclude with reflections on social freedom, defined as the right not to live at others' expense. Toward the aim of defining boundaries through transdisciplinary and democratic processes, we seek to open a dialogue on these issues.

The planetary boundaries concept has profoundly changed the vocabulary and representation of global environmental issues. We bring a critical social science perspective to this framework through the notion of societal boundaries and aim to provide a more nuanced understanding of the social nature of thresholds. We start by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of planetary boundaries from a social science perspective. We then focus on capitalist societies as a heuristic for discussing the expansionary dynamics, power relations, and lock-ins of modern societies that impel highly unsustainable societal relations with nature. While formulating societal boundaries implies a controversial process ‒ based on normative judgments, ethical concerns, and socio-political struggles ‒ it has the potential to offer guidelines for a just, social-ecological transformation. Collective autonomy and the politics of self-limitation are key elements of societal boundaries and are linked to important proposals and pluriverse experiences to integrate well-being and boundaries. The role of the state and propositions for radical alternative approaches to well-being have particular importance. We conclude with reflections on social freedom, defined as the right not to live at others' expense. Toward the aim of defining boundaries through transdisciplinary and democratic processes, we seek to open a dialogue on these issues.