«All I left behind» - mainstreaming of the ecologism

Abstract

Ecologism is a political ideology in its own right, irreducible to any of the other ideologies. What distinguishes it from these other ideologies is its cleaving to ecocentrism and to limits to growth, allied with a more-or-less principled commitment to decentralisation. Describing ecologism in these terms now is not as convincing as it was twenty years ago, largely because these 'pillars' are not so obviously a part of the ideology as we now encounter it. The ideas that originally animated ecologism have gone somewhat into hiding as compromises have been made as a result of political and academic mainstreaming. The trajectory has been one of increasing political relevance accompanied by a decli-
ning reliance on the normative positions that first marked it out for attention in the field of political ideologies. In this sense we are in the midst of a wave of green theory which, rather than distancing itself from established political ideologies, is engaging with them.