Title: Navigating the ideological and cultural landscapes of environmental policy-making in the United States

Authors: Paul A. Barresi

Addresses: Southern New Hampshire University, USA

Abstract: This article offers a framework for mapping the ideological and cultural landscapes within which environmental policy-making takes place in the United States as an aid to analyzing its dynamics and predicting its outcomes. It explores four relevant political ideologies and cultures (traditional conservatism, classical liberalism, modern liberalism, and modern conservatism), which together form a complex motivational matrix of which fully informed analysis and prediction must take account. The article illustrates the practical implications of this motivational matrix by reference to the politics of global climate change.

Keywords: ideology; culture; environmental policy; policy making; USA; United States; traditional conservatism; classical liberalism; modern liberalism; modern conservatism; politics; climate change.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.2008.053959

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2008 Vol.10 No.1/2, pp.1 - 32

Published online: 13 May 2013 *

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