Environmental Politics

Following the pattern of the extremely successful and over-subscribed Environmental Politics sections at the 2001 and 2003 conferences, the aim is to have a broad and representative spread of panels reflecting areas of current interest among members of the Green Politics Standing Group and others interested in environmental politics. Likely themes (reflecting expressions of interest received so far) include: environmentalism and globalization; environmental politics in the new EU member states; local environmental politics; networks, campaigns and environmental movements; green parties; environmental citizenship; ecological modernisation; the politics of GMOs; energy and climate change; sustainability and consumption. Where appropriate, the panels might be grouped around broader themes such as ‘Environmental movements and green parties', ‘Science, policy and uncertainty', and ‘Sustainability and democratic politics'. An open invitation for panel proposals will be circulated via the mailing list and Newsletter of the Green Politics Standing Group. Responses will then be considered alongside proposals already received and a pro-active stance will be adopted to ensure a balanced section likely to have wide appeal. The principal aim is to provide a forum for the lively discussion of new ideas and research findings, and to include established members of the profession as well junior researchers from across the full range of ECPR member institutions. However, the possibility exists of publishing a selection in a special issue of Environmental Politics (now expanded to 5 issues per year), and this, suitably advertised, should itself be an incentive to the presentation of high quality papers.