Robyn Eckersley (born 1958) is a Professor and Head of Political Science in the School of Social and Political Sciences,

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

, Australia.

Background

Eckersley grew up in Perth and graduated in law from the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

. She studied at the University of Cambridge, and has a PhD in environmental politics from the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

. She was previously a public lawyer, then a lecturer at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

until 2001 when she moved to the University of Melbourne. Eckersley was elected Fellow of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Austr ...

in 2007.

''The Green State''

Eckersley's arguments are largely conducted in the domain of

political theory Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...

, but have proven influential in

environmental politics Environmental politics designate both the politics about the environment (see also environmental policy) and an academic field of study focused on three core components:Carter, Neil. 2007. ''The Politics of the Environment: Ideas, Activism, Policy ...

. Her 1992 book ''Environmentalism and Political Theory: Toward an Ecocentric Approach'' was one of the first to argue for an ecocentric form of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

. In her 2004 book ''The Green State: Rethinking Democracy and Sovereignty'', Eckersley proposes "critical political ecology" as a paradigm to explore what it might take to create a green state or green democratic state, a government where the

regulatory Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

ideals and

democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

procedures of the democratic

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

are informed by

ecological democracy Takis Fotopoulos ( el, Τάκης Φωτόπουλος born 14 October 1940) is a Greek political philosopher, economist and writer who founded the Inclusive Democracy movement, aiming at a synthesis of classical democracy with libertarian sociali ...

. The

sovereign state A sovereign state or sovereign country, is a polity, political entity represented by one central government that has supreme legitimate authority over territory. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defin ...

is recast in the role of ecological steward and facilitator of

transnational Transnational may refer to: * Transnational company * Transnational crime * Transnational feminism * Transnational governance * Transnationality * Transnational marriage * Transnational organization * Transnational organized crime * Transnational ...

democracy. The green democratic state is proposed as an

evolutionary Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation t ...

alternative to the

liberal democratic Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into di ...

state, the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitab ...

, and the

neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

state.

Works

*Brown, C. and R. Eckersley (eds.). 2018. ''The Oxford Handbook of International Political Theory''. Oxford University Press. *Peter Christoff and Robyn Eckersley. 2013. ''Globalisation and the Environment''. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield. * Bukovansky M, I. Clark, R. Eckersley, R. Price, C. Reus-Smit, and N.J. Wheeler. 2012. ''Special Responsibilities: Global Problems and American Power''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * D. Altman, J. Camilleri, R. Eckersley and G. Hoffstaedter (eds.). 2012. ''Why Human Security Matters: Rethinking Australian Foreign Policy''. Sydney: Allen and Unwin. *Robyn Eckersley and Andrew Dobson (eds.). 2006. ''Political Theory and the Ecological Challenge''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *Robyn Eckersley and John Barry (eds.). 2005. ''The State and the Global Ecological Crisis''. Cambridge, MA:

MIT Press The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962. History The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publ ...

. *Robyn Eckersley. 2004. ''The Green State: Rethinking Democracy and Sovereignty''. Cambridge: MIT Press.http://librafalas.weebly.com/uploads/6/6/7/9/6679074/the_green_state_rethinking_democracy.pdf download (Melbourne Woodward Medal 2005 for the best research in Humanities and Social Sciences) *Robyn Eckersley. 1992. ''Environmentalism and Political Theory: Toward an Ecocentric Approach''. State University of New York Press.

References

External links

Home page at School of Social and Political Sciences

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eckersley, Robyn Australian political scientists Political ecologists Australian environmentalists Living people People from Perth, Western Australia University of Western Australia alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge University of Tasmania alumni University of Melbourne faculty 1958 births University of Melbourne women 20th-century Australian women writers 20th-century Australian writers 21st-century Australian women writers 21st-century Australian writers Women political scientists Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia