Abstract

Class, gender, and nature conflicts have become increasingly interactive. Left politics has traditionally responded to class issues. Feminism has addressed gender concerns. Green politics emphasizes ecological problems. As these concerns have become increasingly interconnected, the need for an integrated response has grown. Cross-fertilization among these movements has made equality and ecology interdependent goals. Important philosophical and political differences remain however--especially between traditional left politics and the green and feminist movements. Green politics and its important eco-feminist component pose paradigmatic and epistemological, as well as political challenges to democratic left politics, based on a renewed understanding of how class, gender and nature conflicts interrelate. ;The democratic left has traditionally been concerned with equality, while green politics has focused on ecology. Both deal with very basic concerns: life-supporting means , and a life supporting environment in which to live. Complementary goals of a more democratized, cooperative, healthy, and peaceful society have not overcome important theoretical and practical differences between these two movements. ;Using case studies from various settings, this study explores the broader theoretical themes which have emerged from green and left interactions, including: growth versus sustainable economics, centralization/decentralization, energy choices, social alienation, political style, the linkage and impact of feminism, holistic versus reductionist epistemology, and debates surrounding anthropocentrism, biocentrism, and ecocentrism. ;Green "New Paradigm" thinking has revitalized many perennial themes in western political philosophy, while vitalizing new concerns that are transnational, multicultural, and post-humanist/transpecies. In spite of continued differences, democratic left and green political movements are potentially more complementary than conflictual. ;Saliency of ecological and egalitarian politics, and their interrelationships, will be increasingly hard to deny. To fulfill the goals of economic and ecological sustainability, modern industrialized societies will continue to face the policy problems of environmental viability, while providing employment and/or income opportunities to their citizens. Having the means to support life, and a healthy biosphere in which to live can only increase in importance for political systems, bioregions, and their inhabitants. Green Politics will continue to spotlight this synthesis into the future