Out of the Old, Grows the New: How to Policy a Green Republican Order into Being

This paper seeks to cultivate theories regarding the interface between environmentalism and civic republicanism by distilling perspectives from political ecology, deep ecology, critical modernization theory and emerging bodies of thought to explore the development of green republican institutions. Beginning with outlining what radical transitions are needed, it clearly presents the challenges facing traditional political institutions, in these times of converging crises. It offers a synthesis of what policy and institutional features could emerge to represent a new green republican order and adequately respond to prevailing environmental, social, economic and political crises. It empirically examines real world examples, as well as explores theoretical possibilities, which manage to overcome existing constraints on politics such as short-term time horizons, corporate capture, and lack of public participation. Such institutions foster active citizenship, decentralised democracy and Future-Just policy making in respect to dealing with the challenge of sustainability (Barry, 2008; World Future Council 2017). Core questions include; how do we policy so that the biosphere becomes again viewed in terms of its true value, and the market is back in its rightful place as operating holistically within this framework? How do we begin to intrinsically value the natural world, and move away from mainstream approaches of commodification of nature as responses to climate change? How do we delegitimise fossil fuels, and foster norms of deep ecology, holistic thinking, interconnectedness and care for the wider web of life? Building on progress in green republican theory, the analysis aims to contribute to the necessary radical shift to a regenerative, just, life-sustaining society. In this crisis is reframed as an opportunity to fundamentally address systemic injustices and chart a better future for all. It is hoped that the paper illuminates a pathway through the existing order, to a new system, holistically and reverently embedded within the natural world.