Green Economy, Green Capitalism and the Imperial Mode of Living: Limits to a Prominent Strategy, Contours of a Possible New Capitalist Formation

Since some years, the strategy of a Green Economy as a current form of
ecological modernization was proposed. The paper highlights the core issues of the
concept and its structural constraints. Several constraints of a far-reaching real-
ization of a Green Economy are presented, and one constraint is highlighted, i.e., the
imperial mode of (production and) living. The latter gives emphasis to the con-
tinuous and largely unquestioned access to products produced by cheap labor and
under environmentally problematic conditions. This mode of living, the paper
argues, is also attractive among the upper and middle classed in countries with
emerging economies like China. Moreover, it compares it with the concept of
sustainable development which emerged some 15 years ago. Like sustainable
development, proposals for a Green Economy might become ‘‘a tranquilizing dis-
positive’’ in order to silence doubt and criticisms. However, it is argued that, despite
the improbability of realizing the ambitious objectives, the Green Economy strategy
might contribute to further capitalist development. Environmental issues might be
integrated into the mode of production and living. However, given capitalist and
imperial structures and dynamics, this will occur in highly selective and partial
ways. The author calls this emerging constellation and possible new mode of
development in some countries or regions of the world Green Capitalism.