Ecological Politics in an Age of Risk

Ecological politics has moved to the centre of the political stage today. But what motivates ecological concerns? How should we understand "nature" when nothing around us seems "natural" anymore? How should we interpret, and react to, the risks we now face in respect of the "environment"? This book analyzes these issues. Drawing upon ideas established in his work "Risk Society", Beck develops the foundations of an analysis of modern politics. Ecological concerns as ordinarily understood, he shows, are only one part of a renewed engagement with the domain of sub-politics - generated by the social and technological changes affecting our lives in a much more revolutionary way than anything emanating from the formal political sphere. This work should be of interest to all students and professionals in the areas of political theory, sociology and ecological studies.