Title

Managing The Environmental Legitimation Crisis

Keywords

Citizen participation; Environmental crisis; Legitimation crisis; Natural resource management; Second contradiction of capitalism; Systems theory

Abstract

The authors discuss and extend the crisis theory of Habermas and Offe by adding and arguing for the semiautonomy of a fourth system - the ecological system. Based on Habermas's crisis systems theory and J. O'Connor's fiscal crisis-of-the-state thesis, they develop a crisis systems model (CSM) applicable to late capitalist societies. Within the framework of the CSM, they outline the three crises identified inearlier research - accumulation crisis of overproduction, accumulation crisis of underproduction, and social welfare legitimation - and argue for the relevance of a fourth crisis - the environmental legitimation crisis. They assess the empirical import of the CSM and the cogency of the environmental legitimation crisis by examining the evolving role of citizen participation in natural resource management in the United States. The authors conclude that the democratization of environmental decision making is, in part, an adaptive response by natural resources agencies to avoid an environmental legitimation crisis. © 2006 Sage Publications.

Publication Date

6-1-2006

Publication Title

Organization and Environment

Volume

19

Issue

2

Number of Pages

214-232

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026606288226

Socpus ID

33646427715 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/33646427715

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