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Sustaining Liberal Democracy

Edited by John Barry (Keele University, UK), Marcel Wissenburg (University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands); London and New York: Palgrave (Macmillan & St Martin's Press), February 2001. ISBN 0-333-91981-5.

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Sustaining Liberal DemocracyUntil recently, the issue of environmental sustainability remained virtually unexamined in mainstream political theory. Most contributions to the debate on its real-world realization originated in circles of environmentalists and 'green' political theorists. These often blamed liberal democracy, the free market and liberalism as a political theory for the environmental crisis, and resulted in appeals for a radical overhaul of society and politics. Assuming that liberalism and its institutions are here to stay, the texts brought together in this volume turn the question around. They do not ask how society should be adapted to sustainability but how the concept of sustainability is to be interpreted in ways that respect these liberal democratic values and institutions. Among the problems addressed are the compatibility of liberal proceduralism with substantive 'green' ideals, the existence and potential of eco-friendly principles and ideas in classical liberal political theory, the role of rights and duties and of democracy and deliberation, and the 'greening' potential of modern environmental-focused practices in liberal democracies.

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Contents

Foreword - Andrew Dobson

  1. Introduction - John Barry and Marcel Wissenburg

PART I: LIBERALISM AND SUSTAINABILITY

  1. Sustainability, liberal democracy, liberalism - Marius de Geus
  2. A private case of social justice? - Gayil Talshir

PART II: REFORM AND CHANGE

  1. Greening liberal democracy - John Barry
  2. Democracy and sustainability - Nicos Labaras
  3. Democracy, justice and risk society - Wouter Achterberg

PART III: RIGHTS

  1. Constitutional environmental rights - Tim Hayward
  2. Privatising genetic resources - Markku Oksanen
  3. Sustainability and liberal democracy - Robin Attfield

PART IV: DUTIES

  1. The duties of being and association - Mike Mills
  2. Virtue, sustainability and liberal values - Ludvig Beckman
  3. Sustainability and the limits of liberalism - Marcel Wissenburg
  4. Conclusion - Marius de Geus, John Barry and Marcel Wissenburg

Bibliography
Index
About the authors

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