PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE EUROPE? - TU Berlin

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incorrect view. Another, more useful definition of ecological modernization, at the same
time relating it to the concept of sustainability, is provided by David Harvey (1996:377): 3
Ecological modernization depends upon and promotes a belief that economic activity
systematically produces environmental harm … and that society should therefore
adopt a proactive stance with respect to environmental regulation and ecological
controls. Prevention is regarded as preferable to cure. … The key word in this
formulation is “sustainability.” And even though there are multiple definitions of
what this might mean … the concept nevertheless lies at the heart of the politics of
ecological modernization.
It is useful to distinguish between an analytical and a prescriptive dimension of
the term ecological modernization (Murphy 2000). By now, ecological modernization is
both an academic theory and a political program. This is easily explained by the history
of the concept, which Murphy aptly summarizes as follows (p.1):
During the 1980s and early 1990s ecological modernisation was discussed and
developed by a relatively small group of environmental social scientists, particularly
within politics and sociology. From here, interest spread to other disciplines, such as
geography, whilst the sphere of influence expanded away from Germany to the
Netherlands, the UK and the USA. The growth of academic interest in ecological
modernization is such that it is now becoming part of mainstream debate in the
environmental social sciences.
Note, however, that this chapter is not limited to a discussion of the function of
ecological modernization as an academic theory or its function as a political program.
Instead, my interpretation of the concept is more inspired by Maarten Hajer’s work.
Hajer was mostly interested in ecological modernization as a particular environmental
discourse that came to the fore in the 1980s. More precisely, Hajer has defined ecological
3 Note that David Harvey’s understanding of the concept of ecological modernization was very much
shaped and influenced by Maarten Hajer. Chapter 13 “The Environment of Justice” in Harvey’s 1996 book
Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference is the same as his chapters in the edited volumes The
Urbanization of Injustice by Andy Merrifield and Erik Swyngedouw (1997) and Living with Nature by
Frank Fisher and Maarten Hajer (1999). In the Merrifield and Swyngedouw volume Harvey adds the
following enlightening acknowledgement at the end of his chapter, missing in both the JNGD chapter and
the Fisher and Hajer volume:
Much of this chapter could not have been written without the stimulus of supervising Maarten Hajer’s
doctoral dissertation work in Oxford. That dissertation is now published under the title: The Politics of
Environmental Discourse: Ecological Modernization and the Policy Process.