Conclusion: Towards an Ecological Political Economy

Abstract

By way of a conclusion I reprise the book’s major themes and reflect upon its implications. A decisive response to socio-ecological crisis entails a transition to post-growth political-economic models. Yet the precise diagnosis of socio-ecological crisis remains uncertain in crucial respects. Ecological political economists must address this lacuna as a matter of priority. In doing so, they will also define what an effective prescription entails. The issue of prescription raises many more questions still, requiring the participation of researchers of diverse areas of politics and policy in many national contexts. It is the fashioning of a coherent diagnosis and set of context-relevant prescriptions that constitutes the research programme of ecological political economy.