Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Foreword ix
Acknowledgements xiii
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms xv
Introduction xix
Conclusion 214
Notes 216
Bibliography 238
Index 251
vii
TABLES
BOXES
FIGURES
xix
Green politics seeks not only to protect the natural world, but
also to learn from it. It recognises that we are at once part of many
interdependent communities of interest, from the local to the
global. In a globalised world, even the most mundane activities,
such as choosing which shop to use, have implications that reach
far beyond the local economy to affect the lives of communities
around the world. This situation can only be managed equitably if
it is underpinned by genuinely democratic structures at every level.
Since these are difficult to achieve at a global level where, in any
case, the feedback loops between actions and their consequences are
confused and indistinct, Green politics is guided by the principle of
subsidiarity. This states that decisions should be made as locally as is
appropriate. As we argue later on, some issues like the equitable access
to global resources, for example, the atmosphere’s ability to absorb
emissions of carbon dioxide, can only be settled at a global level. In
other spheres, such as trade, the case for doing things predominantly
at the global level, where democratic regulation struggles to keep pace
with the dominant vested interests, is much less compelling.
This whistle-stop tour of the principles of Green politics attempts
to prepare the ground for much of what follows.1 It also helps to
highlight some of the main similarities and differences between our
critique of globalisation and those promoted by other sections of the
anti-globalisation movement. Together with Greens, many groups
on the traditional and hard left blame economic globalisation for
growing inequality and global unemployment and for the remorseless
drift of power away from elected governments and workers to private
corporations and investors. The analysis of the problem is shared,
but to Green ears the response of the unreconstructed left is silent
on sustainability. It is not sufficient to pursue redistributive policies,
enhance workers’ rights, boost the public sector and argue for tougher
regulation of the private sector, without also directing the more
accountable and equitable economy this would create along a path
that is as sustainable as possible.
Many environmentalists can also be found marching behind anti-
globalisation banners. Greens obviously share their concern about
the deteriorating state of the environment. What distinguishes the
response of Green politics from that of environmentalism however
is that Greens go beyond lobbying the established politicians to
clean up their mess. Green politics provides an alternative political
philosophy, an economic programme, and an alternative set of
politicians to replace the conventional ones and stop the mess being
created in the first place.
Green politics is necessarily internationalist. At its heart lies a
call to action to tackle urgent global problems. Green politics is
therefore helping to identify and mobilise a global community of
shared interest. This community is already well aware that the details
of the solutions it proposes will vary to meet local conditions, but
that the intentions of these solutions are shared, as is the analysis
that inspires them. We hope then that, even if this book occasionally
becomes preoccupied with details that are specific to Britain or the
EU, its intentions and analysis will ring true wherever it is read.
THE BOOK
THE AUTHORS
251
redistribution of wealth 82, 97–9, self-sufficiency 69, 82, 88, 132, 147,
119 171
Reebok International 177 September 11, 2001 3, 4
reform 133 Shiva, Vandana 99, 136, 167
regional disparities 185, 188–9, 191, Short, Clare 6, 68
192–6 Shuman, Michael 70
regulation see standards Simon of Highbury, Lord 21
revolution 105, 128, 129–41, 214 single currenty see euro
‘revolving door’ appointments 21 Single Market (EU) 10, 177
Ricardo, David 7–10 ‘site here to sell here’ 74, 75, 87,
Rio Earth Summit (1992) 83 94, 214
RMT (Rail, Maritme and Transport slavery 7
Union) 183 Slovakia and EU Enlargement 207–8
RSPB (Royal Society for the Slovakia Centre for Environmental
Protection of Birds) 163 Policy Advocacy 207
Ruggiero Renato 11 Small and Family Farmers Alliance
rural decline and loss of jobs in 161
agricultural sector 115, 150–67 Smith, Adam 6–10, 16
Brazil 151 social justice xix–xx, 12 see also
Canada 151 equity; inequality; human
rights
China 151
soil erosion 148–9, 159, 202
India 167
Solans, Domingo 183
Poland, and enlargement of EU
Solvak Railway Company 207–8
151
Soros, George 107, 113
US 151
South Africa 112, 115
Russell, John 178
South East (UK)
Russia
economy 185
default on debts 1998
sovereign nation bankruptcy 85, 86,
Kyoto Protocol 200
113, 139
soya bean production 154
Safeway 155, 166 Spahn, Paul Bernd 72
Sainsbury’s 155, 156, 166 speculation 71, 72, 196
Santer, Jacques 177 SPS see Agreement on Sanitary and
SAP 83, 117 see also IMF Phytosanitary Standards
Schroder, Gerhard 20 Sri Lanka 100
Seattle see WTO Ministerial Stability and Growth Pact (Dublin
Meeting (1999) 67, 96, 129 see 1996) 180, 182–3
also protest standards 213
Second World War 102, 118, 174, animal welfare 78, 79, 160, 164,
191, 200 165–6, 212
security 5 as ‘technical barriers to trade’ 79
economic security 174–99 environmental 78–82 passim, 94,
economic security in South 95 101, 133, 160, 165–6, 176, 212
energy security 86 food 79, 80, 164
see also food security health 79, 80, 212
self-build housing 111 human rights 79
self-determination 90 labour 78, 79, 82, 101, 133
self-reliance 69, 77, 86, 96, 98, 129, social 79, 81
161, 165, 198 see also regulation