Neo-liberalism, Globalization and the Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Linking Sustainability and Environmental Justice

Abstract

To sustain economic growth and higher profits in the new global economy, American companies are increasingly adopting ecologically unsustainable systems of production. Motivated by the growing costs of doing business and threat of increased international competition in the era of globalization, corporate America initiated a political movement beginning in the early 1980s for ‘regulatory reform’, ie the rollback of environmental laws, worker health and safety, consumer protection, and other state regulatory protections seen as impinging upon the ‘free’ market and the profits of capital. Termed ‘neoliberalism’, the recent effect has been a general increase in the rate of exploitation of both working people (human nature) and the environment (mother nature), as witnessed by the assaults upon labour, the ecology movement and the welfare state. Coupled with increased trade advantages brought about by corporate-led globalization and significant innovations in high technology and service related industries in the ‘new economy’, the US experienced a record-breaking economic boom under the Clinton administration during the 1990s. However, this economic ‘prosperity’ was to a large degree predicated upon the increased privatized-maximization of profits via the increased socialized-minimization of the costs of production, ie the increased displacement of potential business expenses onto the American public in the form of pollution, intensified natural resource exploitation and other environmental problems. Though progress was made on a number of critical issues, the ecological crisis continued to deepen during the 1990s.