A political ecology of the green economy in the global south

This project investigates green governmentality in ecotourism, carbon forestry, and climate-smart agriculture in selected cases from East Africa and India. The project develops a novel conceptual approach by combining Michel Foucault's notion of 'governmentality' (understood as the techniques and tactics of government) with theories of resistance, social agency and critical institutionalism. This theoretical combination retains the potential to break new ground in environmental governance studies by combining a focus on power and authority with one on agency, rights, and institutions. The ambition is thus to develop an understanding of the interplay between structural power and individual agency as played out in the context of global economics and environmental change in the Global South.

ATREE is collaborating with the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) in a project titled ‘Green-mentality: A Political Ecology of the Green Economy in the Global South.' The other collaborating institutions are University of Sheffield, UK, Institute of Research for Development, France, Institute of Development Studies, UK, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and the Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Norway.