How Has Ecological Imperialism Persisted? A Marxian Critique of the Western Climate Consensus

Ying Chen

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2022, vol. 81, issue 3, 473-501

Abstract: Ecological imperialism refers to the historical and contemporary exercise of power by the North over the South that leads to ecologically destructive consequences of which the South is usually the victim. Using this power, wealthy countries in the Global North are capable of steering mainstream discourse on global environmental issues in directions that benefit and privilege themselves at the expense of the Global South. Analysis should thus be applied not only to ecological imperialism in the pure economic sense, but also to the uneven power relations in the political and ideological arena that serve to reproduce ecological imperialism in an overarching sense. This article, inspired by the concept of ecological imperialism developed in the Marxian tradition, explores how researchers and global institutions in the Global North frame the narratives of climate change culpability through selective presentation of emission statistics that tends to minimize the accountability of the North while inflating that of the Global South. Such narratives also contain the Malthusian perception that economic development and population growth in the Global South, above all, should be taken as major threats to climate change solutions. This type of reasoning again serves to justify and maintain the current hierarchical global system and reinforce ecological imperialism.

Date: 2022
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