1st Edition

Neoliberalism and Climate Policy in the United States From market fetishism to the developmental state

By Robert MacNeil Copyright 2017
198 Pages
by Routledge

198 Pages
by Routledge

198 Pages
by Routledge

This book explores how Washington’s efforts to act on climate change have been translated under conditions of American neoliberalism, where the state struggles to find a stable and legitimate role in the economy, and where environmental and industrial policy are enormously contentious topics. This original work conceptualizes US climate policy first and foremost as a question of... Read more

Part I Introduction





1 US climate policy, neoliberalism & the developmental state





2 Conceptualizing neoliberal climate policy in the US



 



Part II The developmental state vs. the deregulatory state





3 The American developmental state: from confederation to



neoliberalism





4 Neoliberalism and environmental regulation





 



Part III The nature and function of US climate policy





5 Pull policies: Alternative routes to climate regulation





6 Push policies: The developmental state and clean energy



 



Part IV Assessing neoliberal climate policy in the US





7 The functionality and sustainability of current US



climate policy





8 The future of neoliberal climate policy in the US





9 Concluding reflections





 



Afterword: President Trump’s Climate Policy



Biography

Robert MacNeil is Lecturer in Environmental Politics in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney.

‘MacNeil’s analysis brings debates within ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ accounts of comparative political economy into conversation with debates about neoliberalism as a driving force in climate change politics. As such, this work makes highly important contributions both to analyses of US and comparative environmental politics and to comparative political economy.’- Matthew Paterson, University of Manchester, UK


'The book makes a persuasive case for understanding Washington as a developmental state, and by showing how its structures facilitate, at least in part, the emergence of a green economy, it cogently makes the case that neoliberalism is much more complicated than usually understood. The process whereby neoliberalism and the regulatory impulses of environmentalism collide is clearly spelled out in a way that adds nuance to the discussion and puts the American climate change debate into appropriate political context.'- Simon Dalby, University of Waterloo, Canada