Perspektivenwechsel der Politischen Ökologie – Back to the roots!

Abstract

Abstract. Grown from radical geography roots, political ecology (PE) emerged half a century ago and is now a diverse, scientifically mature field. In German speaking countries, geographical PE was introduced with a time delay of twenty years. This article evaluates perspectives (views, arguments, positions) of the first generation of PE research in geography, i.e. largely structuralist historical materialism and discursive approaches, and compares them with second generation research, i.e. poststructuralist and, among others, new (vital) materialism views. It is argued that, paradoxically enough, both old and new approaches are to be blamed for their ambivalence towards policy (politics, activism, social praxis), while some new approaches face substantial criticism for their opaqueness and pluralist grab bag character of themes. With a focus on emancipatory perspectives, a distinct repositioning of (geographical) PE is suggested on radical roots, i.e. integrating libertarian Marxist ideas with anarchism so as to confront hierarchy/domination and enable direct actions for socioecological transformation.