DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: A CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH
Layer 3: Epistemic notions
3.5. ECOLOGICAL MODERNISATION THEORY AND ITS APPLICATION TO THE DEVELOPING WORLD CONTEXT THE DEVELOPING WORLD CONTEXT
distance from the center of the sphere represents the degree to which issues of sustainability are addressed. In the center of the sphere, not all issues of sustainability are addressed, but as one reaches the perimeter of the sphere, greater sustainability is achieved as more elements that comprise sustainability are addressed. Therefore, the further one moves away from the centre of the circle, and the more complete the sphere becomes, the stronger the approach to sustainability becomes.
Similarly, within the ecological modernisation segment, weaker ecological modernisation approaches would be located closer to the center of the sphere with stronger approaches being closer to the perimeter. Therefore stronger ecological modernisation contributes to enhanced or stronger sustainability. Ecological modernisation by its very definition and premise cannot be strong sustainability (Langhelle, 2000), but the degree to which it contributes towards strong sustainability is a function of the strength or weakness of the ecological modernisation approach. What Figure 3.1 does not make clear is whether an approach to environmental management that only displays ecological modernisation qualities (even if strong ecological modernisation) could be defined as weak sustainability.
This section has discussed the relationship between ecological modernisation and sustainability in the manner in which they are interpreted in this study. These ideas are drawn on in Chapter Fourteen, where they are discussed in relation to the national and local PFM discourses and the ideological discourses with which they are most consistent.
3.5. ECOLOGICAL MODERNISATION THEORY AND ITS APPLICATION TO
unlike developed countries such as the Netherlands, Germany and Japan where ecological modernisation has been explicitly been adopted as the approach to environmental policy- making (Murphy, 2000), it is an approach that underlies policy-making in many developing countries owing to its prevalence in the developed world. This creates an opportunity for researchers to examine the degree to which this concept is useful or appropriate to the South African context and what the implications of this are. This section considers some of the literature that endorses the consideration of the applicability of the theory of ecological modernisation in developing countries such as South Africa.
Mol (2000) notes that from the 1990’s until the present, the global dimensions of ecological modernisation as well as national studies in non-west European countries (i.e. central and east European nation states, the United States of America and developing countries) have received increasing attention, because prior to the mid 1990’s the focus of studies using ecological modernisation as a theoretical framework was primarily on national studies regarding west European countries.
Buttel (2000:59) in distinguishing between different “generations” in the life of ecological modernisation as a theoretical concept, referred to this focus as being in the first generation literature of ecological modernisation. The first generation of ecological modernisation literature was founded on the reforming capacity of institutions in capitalist liberal democracies to improve their impact on the natural environment. These writers regarded ecological modernisation as a positive theory and praised its contributions. Second generation literature, according to Buttel (2000), shifted in focus. This literature still concentrated on capitalist liberal democracies but attempted to identify the socio-political processes through which further modernisation enables (or constrains) beneficial ecological outcomes. Buttel (2000) then introduces what is considered a third “generation” in ecological modernisation literature. This most recent literature is “more concerned with comparative perspectives, including but not limited to the ways in which globalisation processes might catalyse ecological modernisation processes in countries in the South” (Buttel, 2000:59). Theorists writing second and third generation ecological modernisation literature tend to be more critical of the mainstream conceptualisation of the concept.
South Africa is progressing along a path of development that makes the adoption of ecological modernisation more likely. Scott and Oelofse (2005) reflect that ecological modernisation,
which is at the forefront of policy-making in developed countries, is increasingly being adopted as the preferred policy discourse in developing countries too. Carmody (2002) comments on the tendency of South Africa towards becoming integrated into the global economy. After the abolition of sanctions and the liberalisation of the economy, many South African conglomerates took the opportunity to globalise their operations (Carmody, 2002). In many instances, globalisation in South Africa began with regionalisation as it afforded a greater competitive edge. South African companies “used their locational advantages in Africa to achieve economies of scale, and boost profits: using the region as a springboard to globalise” (Simon, 2001 in Carmody, 2002:263).
Globalisation is believed to be a catalyst for ecological modernisation processes because it is associated with market-led economies and a system of free trade. This organisation of the economy around market mechanisms favours the implementation of ecological modernisation, because it is a way in which, in a market-based capitalist (neoliberal) economic system that dominates the global economy, environmental and economic policy can be integrated in way that is profitable for business and contributes towards sustainable development (Gibbs, 2000).
South Africa’s adoption of the GEAR1 (Growth Employment and Redistribution) policy in 1996 signalled the introduction of a free market approach that has neoliberalism as its central principle, and which favours “export-orientated, market-led economic growth” (Hart, 2002:3).
Ecological modernisation may be relevant for developing world contexts, because it provides these countries with an environmental problem solving approach for environmental issues that they will begin to deal with as they progress along the path of development and industrialisation. According to Aseniero (1985, cited in Adams, 2001:102) the “process of modernisation, economic growth and nation-state building that created the modern world- system have long been held up as goals for underindustrialised countries”. If ecological modernisation is the “next necessary or even triumphant stage of an evolutionary process of industrial transformation” (Christoff, 1996:487) then developing countries need to learn from the lessons of the North as the focus of their concerns shift. Their concerns may shift from natural resource consumption and protection to issues that concern developed countries such as pollution control and prevention (Christoff, 1996; Buttel, 2000; Congreve, 2000; Langhelle, 2000; Mol, 2000; Seippel, 2000; Berger et al., 2001; Sonnenfeld, 2002). As countries in the
1 See Chapter Six for more information about South Africa’s neoliberal political economy.
South follow in the footsteps of the North in pursuit of these goals, they would do well to be critical of such a programme, especially the predominantly weak or mainstream version that has been implemented, and consider the benefits of ensuring that stronger versions are implemented in their counties. This research sets out to do that by applying the theory to a particular case study.
This broadening of the application of ecological modernisation theory creates an opportunity for its application to developing country contexts, such as South Africa, to be explored. This is a key contribution of this thesis. This research, applies ecological modernisation as a theory of cultural politics, to analyse policy discourses in Participatory Forest Management, using the method of discourse analysis.