chapter 42
...................................................................................................................................................POLITICAL
THEORY AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
...................................................................................................................................................john m. meyer
1 Introduction
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The most familiar view of ‘‘the environment’’ in politics today, at least in
liberal-democratic societies, is that it is an issue area. This ‘‘issue area’’ may be
understood to include a number of particular concerns on a scale ranging
from the local to the global, including toxic pollution, forest destruction,
global warming, biodiversity loss, and so forth. Viewed in this manner,
environmentalists are seen as representing a particular set of interests—one
among many—that a nominally democratic or pluralistic political system
should attend to when making policy. Consistent with this view, environ-
mental concerns have become a recognizable part of the political landscape in
a great many places over the past generation.
- Many thanks to John Barry, Robyn Eckersley, Joel Kassiola, David Schlosberg, and editor John
Dryzek for helpful comments on earlier drafts.