The democratisation of sustainability: The search for a green democratic model

Abstract

It is often argued that the two main principles of green politics are the achievement of sustainability and the democratisation of democracy. The question arises of how sustainability and democratisation of democracy can be combined in the search for a new democratic model, namely green democracy. Distinguishing between two models of sustainability depending on the way in which they are related to democracy offers a very useful tool for thinking about the relationship between them. Open sustainability is necessarily linked to democracy, while closed sustainability is contingently linked to it. Despite the difficulties associated with combining these two features of green politics in a democratic model, a normative model of green democracy is offered. It is founded in a deliberative conception of democracy, which allows the achievement of sustainability normatively conceived, as well as being coherent with several other features of green politics: its conception of citizenship and the state, its stress on community and the enlargement of political community.