罗宾·艾克斯利绿色国家政治理论探析

On Robyn Eckersley's Political Theory of Green State

随着生态环境问题和社会可持续发展难题的不断涌现,环境政治理论逐渐成为一个重要的政治理论分支。艾克斯利提出的绿色国家理论,旨在建构一种绿色民主国家,使之既能够担负起环境保护的责任,又能够担负起跨边界民主治理的推行。然而,主权国家体系的无政府特征、国家对私人资本积累的过度依赖以及自由民主制国家的“民主赤字”是绿色国家建构首先需要克服的三个挑战。基于对现存自由民主制国家的内源性批判,艾克斯利认为生态民主是适用于绿色国家的民主新原则,它由规范性理想向实践性程序的转化,需要借助绿色公共领域的繁荣和跨边界民主治理的推行。绿色国家政治理论为解决全球生态问题、实现环境正义提供了一种新思路,但这一理论本身仍存在着内在的局限性,本质上是一种生态资本主义。因此,基于现存自由民主制的绿色国家,仍有待转型为更高阶的、真正的跨边界生态民主国家。

With the emergence of eco-environmental problems and social sustainability issues,environmental politics has become an important branch of politics.Eckersley's political theory of green state aims to construct a green democratic state which can take responsibility for environmental protection and promote transboundary democratic governance.However,there are three challenges that the construction of a green state needs to overcome:the anarchic nature of the sovereign state system,excessive dependence of states on private capital accumulation,and the“democratic deficit”of liberal democratic states.However,the anarchic character of the sovereign state system,the excessive dependence of states on private capital accumulation,and the“democratic deficits”of the liberal democratic states constitute three core challenges that the green state must face.Based on an immanent critique of existing liberal democratic states,Eckersley argues that ecological democracy is a new democratic principle applicable to the green state.It involves the transformation from normative ideals to practical procedures,relying on the prosperity of the green public sphere and the promotion of transboundary democratic governance.The political theory of green state provides a new perspective for addressing global ecological issues and achieving environmental justice,but it also has inherent limitations.It shares similarities and areas for mutual learning with China's theory of socialist eco-civilization,as both theories are reflections and political practices in response to ecological and environmental problems in the process of human civilization development.