Abstract
Gale’s chapter provides a timely critique of IPE’s limited theoretical engagement with the concept of sustainable development. He highlights how nationalist, liberal, and critical IPE as manifested in green mercantilism, liberal environmentalism, and eco-socialism employ pre-established theoretical categories that perpetuate anthropocentric understandings of the human-nature relationship. Combining ecological thought with governance, Gale identifies an emergent IPE approach in sustainability governance that emphasises multistakeholder deliberation across entrenched, differently conceptualised notions of economic value. Applied to international trade, the approach challenges the free trade-protectionism dichotomy so dominant in IPE policymaking with one that distinguishes free traders and general protectionists from fair traders, the latter seeking sustainably produced and labelled products regardless of country of origin.
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Gale, F. (2019). Sustainability. In: Shaw, T.M., Mahrenbach, L.C., Modi, R., Yi-chong, X. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary International Political Economy. Palgrave Handbooks in IPE. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45443-0_32
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