Reforming law and economy for a sustainable earth : critical thought for turbulent times / Paul Anderson

Based on author's thesis (doctoral - University of Warwick, 2011) issued under title: International environmental law reform and the allocation problem : from market failure to a critical theory of justice

Introduction: reforming law and economy for a sustainable earth -- Proposals for international environmental law reform : a critical review of the literature -- Refinement of the epistemology of environmental sustainability -- The poverty of the market? : critique of economic prescriptions -- The failure of market failure? : critique of the economic diagnosis of the causes of global environmental change -- Capitalism as allocation problem : towards diagnosis of the causes of global environmental change -- Reforming law and economy for a sustainable earth : towards a critical theory of justice? -- Is ecological democracy sustainable?

"Few problems preoccupy contemporary progressive thought as much as the issue of how to achieve a sustainable human society. The problems impeding this goal of sustainability mainly involve arresting induced global environmental changes (GEC), but problems also result from the sheer number of competing disciplinary perspectives on GEC, on ways in which economic activities are causing environmental change, and on how the latter can be reformed in order to stop the former.Reforming Law and Economy for a Sustainable Earth aims to help resolve these problems in two ways. Accepting that resolving most GEC will require global coordination, the book first clarifies the conditions necessary for effective global coordination. Paul Anderson explains these conditions by enacting a sustained analysis of key concepts in politics, law, and policy related to the transition to a sustainable economy, and by synthesizing the different ways in which these concepts are understood by influential disciplinary perspectives. Next, Anderson tackles the problem of arresting GEC by incisively evaluating two leading theoretical positions in terms of their capacity to support the conditions required for effective coordination. The book offers an extensive critique of the idea that global environmental problems can be solved within the framework of global capitalism. Anderson also critically reviews the position that global sustainability cannot be achieved except by changing the capitalist form of organizing the economy. Enriched by an interdisciplinary approach, the originality of Reforming Law and Economy for a Sustainable Earth lies in the way it combines a rigorous analysis of the requirements for global sustainability with a decisive statement about what are, and what are not, viable means of fulfilling those requirements. The book advances a growing literature in human-environment relations, sustainability studies, and social and political theory by offering a timely and insightful statement about the global environmental predicament in the 21st century"-- Provided by publisher