Political Theory

Written with wit and with his wits about him, Marcel Wissenburg has produced an important book in the fields of green and liberal political theory, and within contemporary political theory more generally. Green Liberalism explores the relationship between green political theory and liberalism, situating itself between the radical (and sometimes problematic) aims of ‘ecological utopianism’ and the currently fashionable (and reformist) implications of ‘ecological modernization’. Separating ‘political’ from ‘economic’ liberalism, Wissenburg critically assesses green moral, political and economic arguments from a liberal perspective, with the general aim of seeing whether or not the green critique (with its concerns about the moral status of the non-human world, ecological sustainability, and realizing radical socio-economic change) requires the transcendence as opposed to the reform or transformation of liberal democracy. Wissenburg suggests the latter and that we can have a free and green society. As he puts it, ‘The good news, then, is that neither the philosophy of liberalism nor its political institutions are necessary conditions for the existence or persistence of an environmental crisis; in our pluralistic world, green liberalism is in fact a necessary condition for its solution’ (p. 226). This book is highly original and fills a gap in the existing literature. Substantively, Wissenburg has staked out a new theoretical terrain, and for this he is to be congratulated. Stylistically, he has managed to combine analytical rigour and rational choice, with humour and self-deprecation. Rarely has such a significant work been written in such a readable style.