Local policy for the global environment: In search of a new perspective

British local government is placing a new emphasis on local action for the global environment. In the literature addressing these developments limited attention has been paid to the contested nature of sustainability, or to the local context in which initiatives arise. A cultural politics approach provides a means through which these shortcomings can be overcome [Hajer, 1996]. Its discourse basis enables a local authority to be seen as a forum in which technocentric and ecocentric interpretations of sustainability compete with each other, as well as contesting established ‘non‐sustainable’ approaches. The Foucauldian view of power which underlies cultural politics requires that these contests are viewed in the context of an authority's history and traditions. As such, a cultural politics approach could form the basis of a new broader agenda for Local Agenda 21 research.