The political economy of unsustainable development: Environmentalism, capitalism and democracy in Taiwan and South Korea (China)

This dissertation addresses the challenge of realizing sustainable development in the modern era from the vantage point of newly industrializing countries. It offers a political economy framework to explain patterns of unsustainability in the context of two cases---Taiwan and South Korea. It examines the institutional dimensions of unsustainable development in the political-economic context of these societies with recently formed democratic states and capitalist economies. The dissertation argues that the ecological contradictions of contemporary development in Taiwan and South Korea are presently preventing both countries from obtaining their sustainable development aspirations. It concludes that the achievement of environmentally sound development may require a change in the growth and accumulation model of capitalism and in existing liberal democratic institutions as well.; Six major theses are identified: (1) The process of economic growth under capitalist development causes environmental pollution and ecological degradation to be seen as problems of "tradeoffs" between economic and environmental priorities. (2) Market capitalism fails to take into account ecological carrying capacity, leading to contradictions between capitalist production relations and the ecological conditions of production. (3) As long as the economic growth goal and the political-economic coalition associated with it hold a dominant position in modernist society, a logical consequence is that competing goals which are not treated as equally important will be marginalized. (4) Environmental conflicts reveal a central paradox in the state's core imperative, namely, that the state's strategic interests are concerned with economic growth, not environmental sustainability. (5) Decentralization reforms are unlikely to reduce local competition for natural resources and may exacerbate regional conflicts. (6) Liberal democracies in a capitalist era breed contradictions between political and ecological interests which can lead to reduced public awareness of ecological relationships for long-term regional and global sustainability.; The dissertation contributes to the sustainable development debate in two ways. First, it demonstrates the interest in environmental sustainability in liberal democracy is weak and unlikely to be strengthened by internal reforms. Second, it offers a new focus for building a democratic interest in environmental sustainability through a recasting of the environment-development debate as a problem of ecologizing political economy.