The Coming Authoritarian Ecology [Hardcover]

The book examines ecological issues such as climate change and biodiversity, articulating local and global scales, and short and long term perspectives, questioning what development and progress are. The goal is to show how diverging points of view are conflictingly articulated to one another, in a political ideology perspective. This perspective, which is close to the main actor's point of view, allows displacement of the usual analysis, and offers a new synthesis.

Preface.ix

Part 1 The Situation in France 1

Introduction to Part 1 3

Chapter 1. Exploring the Earth’s Hidden Face 5

1.1. What is ecology? 5

1.2. Ecology, a new science? 9

1.3. What can we learn from ecology and the natural sciences? 12

1.3.1. The planet 12

1.3.2. France. 14

1.3.3. The United Kingdom. 18

1.3.4. What must be done? Three positions: green growth, degrowth and other development 20

1.4. What should be taken seriously? Risk, relativism and constructivism 23

1.4.1. Social sciences and natural sciences: the “Great Divide”?24

1.4.2. Expertise and public decisions 29

Chapter 2. Who Are the Ecologists? 33

2.1. “Whisteblower” scientists33

2.2. From environmentalism to ecologism.36

2.2.1. Naturalist associations37

2.2.2. A “movement” with unclear outlines40

2.2.3. “Ecologists” and “environmentalists”44

2.3. Ecology in politics, in France and around the world. 49

2.3.1. Ecologism in the French political arena49