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Encyclopedia of Global Justice pp 863–865Cite as

Political Ecology

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Political ecology is the study of the intersection and relationship between the political, broadly understood, and environmental and ecological phenomena. Political, economic, social, and cultural forces affect, and are affected by, ecological and environmental trends. Because human institutions penetrate the natural world, and nature (changed and unchanged by human activity) affects human life and institutions, this complex and dynamic relationship has everything to do with global justice. Although the term “political ecology” was coined by Frank Thone in 1935, and revived by Eric R. Wolf in 1972, there exists no agreed-upon definition or conception of the field. Political ecology is, and must be, interdisciplinary and far ranging, and this fact keeps simple and uniform definitions in check. Political ecology is, in part, constituted by and concerned with, political economy, cultural ecology, social ecology, green socialism, environmental sociology, development ecology, anthropology,...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy/Humanities, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT, USA

    Michael Minch

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  1. Michael Minch
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Deen K. Chatterjee

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Minch, M. (2011). Political Ecology. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_119

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