Values and green politics: a rhetorical interpretation of the role of values in green political processes

Abstract

This thesis explores the role of values in the conduct of green politics. In political science and sociology this topic is most commonly addressed in terms of theoretical approaches that aim to identify green politics in terms of a distinct set of values. Such approaches attribute the emergence and growth of green politics to value change. I argue that this conventional wisdom is based on a misunderstanding of the significance of values in political processes. One consequence of this misunderstanding is that a number of typical issues that face green political organisations are not adequately addressed. In particular, attempts to identify green politics in terms of values disregard the ambiguity that is a central feature of normative political discourse. In this thesis I develop an alternative approach which considers values as a type of good reason which is deployed in the context of rhetorical argument. In doing so, I investigate the relationship between values and other types of rhetorical reasoning. Green politics is a type of politics in which normative reasons are characteristically privileged in political discourse. I refer to this rhetorical privileging as 'value primacy'. The second part of the thesis examines the consequences of value primacy for green political action taking as a case study a series of discussions among Australian green activists. These greens were engaged in drawing up structures and mechanisms for political co-operation with a view to forming a political party or network. This case study demonstrates the various ways in which values are used rhetorically in the practice of green politics. In particular, it reveals a great deal of ambiguity and flexibility in the conduct of normative discourse among greens. I also explore some of the perverse effects that follow from attempts to implement green political values in the light such ambiguity. Many of the problems identified in the Australian example can be generalised to the experiences of other green political organisations. This exploration of the perverse effects of green normative rationality suggests that the emphasis that both academic analysts and green activists place upon value change and conversion as a way of understanding green politics is unwarranted.