Perspektivenwechsel der Politischen Ökologie – Back to the roots!

Abstract. Grown from radical geography roots, political ecology
(PE) emerged half a century ago and is now a diverse, scientifically mature
field. In German speaking countries, geographical PE was introduced with a
time delay of twenty years. This article evaluates perspectives (views, arguments,
positions) of the first generation of PE research in geography, i.e. largely
structuralist historical materialism and discursive approaches, and compares
them with second generation research, i.e. poststructuralist and, among
others, new (vital) materialism views. It is argued that, paradoxically
enough, both old and new approaches are to be blamed for their ambivalence
towards policy (politics, activism, social praxis), while some new
approaches face substantial criticism for their opaqueness and pluralist
grab bag character of themes. With a focus on emancipatory perspectives, a
distinct repositioning of (geographical) PE is suggested on radical roots,
i.e. integrating libertarian Marxist ideas with anarchism so as to confront
hierarchy/domination and enable direct actions for socioecological
transformation.
