- Email: [email protected]
Eco-Wars (Power, Conflict, and Democracy: American Politics into the 21st Century)
228
Book reviews / Review of Radical Political Economics 34 (2002) 223–239
growing tired of neoliberal precepts, this study of other ways to live with capitalism will be most welcome. Christopher Gunn Department of Economics Hobart and William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY 14456, USA Tel.: +1-315-781-3416 E-mail: [email protected] PII: S0486-6134(02)00113-4
Reference Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Oxford: Polity.
Eco-Wars (Power, Conflict, and Democracy: American Politics into the 21st Century) Ronald T. Libby (Ed.); New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, 256 pp., $52.00 hardback, $23.00 paperback Ronald Libby’s Eco-Wars tells us not to give up hope. According to Libby, battalions of social movement organizations are out there, preparing to balance the power of corporations and win the war against businesses and for the environment. The groups have done it before, and can do better in the future. Libby’s analysis of the past 15 years of environmental battles is broad in scope if thin on theory. His title and first chapter suggest there are ways to organize environmentalists to effectively oppose business. The cases he offers, however, illustrate the difficulties in proving the existence, not to mention effectiveness, of such claims. His cases range from animal rights to secondhand smoke ordinances to the anti-biotechnology campaigns opposing genetic engineering of foods. He also covers the “Big Green” campaign in California, and the anti-bovine growth hormone campaign in the Northeast. Around this array of disparate issues, Libby attempts to build a general theory of “Expressive Interest Groups” and their related Social Movement Organizations (SMOs) which will show that these groups can oppose various large corporate interests. This approach leads to an engaging catalogue of political campaigns concerning “environmental issues,” yet leaves the reader disappointed with the outcomes for the environmentalists, as well as the theories of political action needed to strengthen citizens’ groups for the future. On the positive side, Libby gives a good account of many different SMOs and their methods, successful and less so, of attempting concrete social change. Libby also shines a bright light on the anti-environmentalists. His explanation of how corporations successfully appeal to the general public in opposing environmental interests is excellent. Students of environmental and social movements will find these cases serve well as a guide for their own work.
Book reviews / Review of Radical Political Economics 34 (2002) 223–239
229
The use of the environment as a locus of political action could be the real strength of this book, but Libby’s choice of issues actually leaves the reader wondering what “environment” he is discussing. To further muddle the collection of cases, the reader is led to regard various battles—pro-animal rights, anti-secondhand smoke, anti-genetic engineering—as part and parcel of the same general movement. Eco-Wars examines only one broad environmental campaign: the fight for “Big Green,” the California referendum that would have modified the entire range of mining, agricultural, and timber policies of the semi-nationstate. The single-issue cases on tobacco, biotechnology (specifically the use of Bovine Growth Hormone, BGH), and the extension of the Endangered Species Act befuddle the reader’s notion of “environment” itself. Despite his early and lengthy discussion of social movements, Libby never defines what it means to join the army of citizens in the war for the environment. Do eco-warriors have an ideology that makes all these issues part of a broad collectivity? Exactly which “environment” are they trying to fight for?: non-smoking sections in cafés, the right of animals to be treated humanely, the production of pure food? Without an attempt to pull together these issues and present them as part of a coherent ideological scheme, their usefulness as a measure of environmentalists’ success is precarious at best. Some historical analysis of how issues become “environmental,” to position them as comparable cases in the strategic evaluation of our modern eco-war, would have been useful. For example, many conservationists smoke while strategizing campaigns to defend endangered animals. Should we therefore question whose side they are on? Without some explicit orientation of the relationships among these issues qua issues, the reader is left with the task of trying to determine how they fit into the landscape as well as with one another. A broader, well-defined worldview would be helpful. A related difficulty is the use of theory in analyzing the cases. Much of the Introduction is given over to defining various kinds of social movements. This section recaps much of the current research on how social movements succeed in general. Libby in fact makes a sound case that monetary advantages have not been a good predictor of the success for industries opposed to environmental policies. In the case of the campaigns against biotechnology, especially, the SMOs were able to slow much of the momentum of biotechnology companies seeking to dictate policy, while being “out-gunned” in terms of campaign cash. However, after raising many questions about social-movement theory in the Introduction, Libby fails to return to these questions, never exploring their implications. The argument within each case is more particular than his early discussion would indicate. On pages 24 and 25, we find a chart identifying the various players for each of the five cases. Here are shown which allies joined the social movement’s campaigns, which political opponents fought proposed environmental policies, and where the issue of “free-riders” arose who benefit from these campaigns without participating. This useful chart’s information then is absent from Libby’s theoretical conclusions about each of the subsequent case studies. Libby finishes the book with a proposal that these groups need to be fostered in order to prevent the takeover of government by those in the “bad” industries. How to do this on the basis of a scheme suggested, supported, or even justified by the case studies, along with some comment on how they lead in general to a theory of social movements’ success, would have sparked the reader more to the action Libby wishes to evoke.
230
Book reviews / Review of Radical Political Economics 34 (2002) 223–239
The case studies themselves are well-written and consider much of the important detail of success or failure of each SMO in its particular Eco-Battle. The book’s best material is its considered exposé of industry campaigns against the environmentalists. A recap of industry rhetoric and campaign tactics in each case illuminates the military metaphor well. The cases form a series of contests about the way we treat the environment. The measured analysis of how industries appeal to the public while fighting environmental referenda and policy is useful to students of social movements and active environmentalists. Libby shows that the power behind much of the anti-environmentalist “social movement” is big business. When presented with this material, a class I taught on the sociology of the environment lit up with a new understanding of how and why certain groups oppose what seem on the surface to be reasonable environmental politics. Libby shows the institutional connections linking big business with government allow corporate interest groups to make hegemonic arguments about growth in defense of their self-interested policies. These arguments are successful on every issue except secondhand smoke; the tobacco companies lost. This aspect of Eco-Wars is its saving grace. The reader ends up impressed with the difficulty of forming a counter-hegemonic movement based on expressive social values like environmentalism. The underlying and implied argument is that environmental concerns are ipso facto in opposition to the growth paradigm in modern American capitalism. Materials in the case studies document the surprisingly increased resonance of environmental issues among owners of small businesses, who fear that new technologies may render them obsolete. The case studies also reveal the usefulness of enlisting celebrities and politicians to reach out to new groups on an issue-by-issue basis. The emphases on rhetoric and against exaggeration bring lessons home to readers more interested in social action than social movement theory. While lacking a theoretical punch and a coherent ideological scheme, the cases form an empirical approach to understanding how the environmental SMOs can become significant in the formulation of policy. Timothy M. Koponen Department of Sociology, University of Illinois 1007 W. Harrison Street, Chicago IL 60607-7140, USA Tel.: +1-312-543-5546 E-mail: [email protected] PII: S0486-6134(02)00115-8
Breaking With the Enlightenment: The Twilight of History and the Rediscovery of Utopia Rajani Kannepalli Kanth; New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1997, 184 pp., $22.00 paperback, $49.95 hardback (Amazon) Considering the almost universal contempt in which Rajani Kanth holds economists of all ideological persuasions (Marxist, neoclassical, scientific, etc.), it may be somewhat of a blessing for the author of this review that my “economic” credentials lack the finesse (and
Book reviews / Review of Radical Political Economics 34 (2002) 223–239
growing tired of neoliberal precepts, this study of other ways to live with capitalism will be most welcome. Christopher Gunn Department of Economics Hobart and William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY 14456, USA Tel.: +1-315-781-3416 E-mail: [email protected] PII: S0486-6134(02)00113-4
Reference Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Oxford: Polity.
Eco-Wars (Power, Conflict, and Democracy: American Politics into the 21st Century) Ronald T. Libby (Ed.); New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, 256 pp., $52.00 hardback, $23.00 paperback Ronald Libby’s Eco-Wars tells us not to give up hope. According to Libby, battalions of social movement organizations are out there, preparing to balance the power of corporations and win the war against businesses and for the environment. The groups have done it before, and can do better in the future. Libby’s analysis of the past 15 years of environmental battles is broad in scope if thin on theory. His title and first chapter suggest there are ways to organize environmentalists to effectively oppose business. The cases he offers, however, illustrate the difficulties in proving the existence, not to mention effectiveness, of such claims. His cases range from animal rights to secondhand smoke ordinances to the anti-biotechnology campaigns opposing genetic engineering of foods. He also covers the “Big Green” campaign in California, and the anti-bovine growth hormone campaign in the Northeast. Around this array of disparate issues, Libby attempts to build a general theory of “Expressive Interest Groups” and their related Social Movement Organizations (SMOs) which will show that these groups can oppose various large corporate interests. This approach leads to an engaging catalogue of political campaigns concerning “environmental issues,” yet leaves the reader disappointed with the outcomes for the environmentalists, as well as the theories of political action needed to strengthen citizens’ groups for the future. On the positive side, Libby gives a good account of many different SMOs and their methods, successful and less so, of attempting concrete social change. Libby also shines a bright light on the anti-environmentalists. His explanation of how corporations successfully appeal to the general public in opposing environmental interests is excellent. Students of environmental and social movements will find these cases serve well as a guide for their own work.
Book reviews / Review of Radical Political Economics 34 (2002) 223–239
229
The use of the environment as a locus of political action could be the real strength of this book, but Libby’s choice of issues actually leaves the reader wondering what “environment” he is discussing. To further muddle the collection of cases, the reader is led to regard various battles—pro-animal rights, anti-secondhand smoke, anti-genetic engineering—as part and parcel of the same general movement. Eco-Wars examines only one broad environmental campaign: the fight for “Big Green,” the California referendum that would have modified the entire range of mining, agricultural, and timber policies of the semi-nationstate. The single-issue cases on tobacco, biotechnology (specifically the use of Bovine Growth Hormone, BGH), and the extension of the Endangered Species Act befuddle the reader’s notion of “environment” itself. Despite his early and lengthy discussion of social movements, Libby never defines what it means to join the army of citizens in the war for the environment. Do eco-warriors have an ideology that makes all these issues part of a broad collectivity? Exactly which “environment” are they trying to fight for?: non-smoking sections in cafés, the right of animals to be treated humanely, the production of pure food? Without an attempt to pull together these issues and present them as part of a coherent ideological scheme, their usefulness as a measure of environmentalists’ success is precarious at best. Some historical analysis of how issues become “environmental,” to position them as comparable cases in the strategic evaluation of our modern eco-war, would have been useful. For example, many conservationists smoke while strategizing campaigns to defend endangered animals. Should we therefore question whose side they are on? Without some explicit orientation of the relationships among these issues qua issues, the reader is left with the task of trying to determine how they fit into the landscape as well as with one another. A broader, well-defined worldview would be helpful. A related difficulty is the use of theory in analyzing the cases. Much of the Introduction is given over to defining various kinds of social movements. This section recaps much of the current research on how social movements succeed in general. Libby in fact makes a sound case that monetary advantages have not been a good predictor of the success for industries opposed to environmental policies. In the case of the campaigns against biotechnology, especially, the SMOs were able to slow much of the momentum of biotechnology companies seeking to dictate policy, while being “out-gunned” in terms of campaign cash. However, after raising many questions about social-movement theory in the Introduction, Libby fails to return to these questions, never exploring their implications. The argument within each case is more particular than his early discussion would indicate. On pages 24 and 25, we find a chart identifying the various players for each of the five cases. Here are shown which allies joined the social movement’s campaigns, which political opponents fought proposed environmental policies, and where the issue of “free-riders” arose who benefit from these campaigns without participating. This useful chart’s information then is absent from Libby’s theoretical conclusions about each of the subsequent case studies. Libby finishes the book with a proposal that these groups need to be fostered in order to prevent the takeover of government by those in the “bad” industries. How to do this on the basis of a scheme suggested, supported, or even justified by the case studies, along with some comment on how they lead in general to a theory of social movements’ success, would have sparked the reader more to the action Libby wishes to evoke.
230
Book reviews / Review of Radical Political Economics 34 (2002) 223–239
The case studies themselves are well-written and consider much of the important detail of success or failure of each SMO in its particular Eco-Battle. The book’s best material is its considered exposé of industry campaigns against the environmentalists. A recap of industry rhetoric and campaign tactics in each case illuminates the military metaphor well. The cases form a series of contests about the way we treat the environment. The measured analysis of how industries appeal to the public while fighting environmental referenda and policy is useful to students of social movements and active environmentalists. Libby shows that the power behind much of the anti-environmentalist “social movement” is big business. When presented with this material, a class I taught on the sociology of the environment lit up with a new understanding of how and why certain groups oppose what seem on the surface to be reasonable environmental politics. Libby shows the institutional connections linking big business with government allow corporate interest groups to make hegemonic arguments about growth in defense of their self-interested policies. These arguments are successful on every issue except secondhand smoke; the tobacco companies lost. This aspect of Eco-Wars is its saving grace. The reader ends up impressed with the difficulty of forming a counter-hegemonic movement based on expressive social values like environmentalism. The underlying and implied argument is that environmental concerns are ipso facto in opposition to the growth paradigm in modern American capitalism. Materials in the case studies document the surprisingly increased resonance of environmental issues among owners of small businesses, who fear that new technologies may render them obsolete. The case studies also reveal the usefulness of enlisting celebrities and politicians to reach out to new groups on an issue-by-issue basis. The emphases on rhetoric and against exaggeration bring lessons home to readers more interested in social action than social movement theory. While lacking a theoretical punch and a coherent ideological scheme, the cases form an empirical approach to understanding how the environmental SMOs can become significant in the formulation of policy. Timothy M. Koponen Department of Sociology, University of Illinois 1007 W. Harrison Street, Chicago IL 60607-7140, USA Tel.: +1-312-543-5546 E-mail: [email protected] PII: S0486-6134(02)00115-8
Breaking With the Enlightenment: The Twilight of History and the Rediscovery of Utopia Rajani Kannepalli Kanth; New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1997, 184 pp., $22.00 paperback, $49.95 hardback (Amazon) Considering the almost universal contempt in which Rajani Kanth holds economists of all ideological persuasions (Marxist, neoclassical, scientific, etc.), it may be somewhat of a blessing for the author of this review that my “economic” credentials lack the finesse (and