Locating the political in political ecology: An introduction

Recent debates within political ecology have motivated serious reflection about key concepts and methods in this relatively new field. In the introduction to this special issue, we briefly chart the intellectual genealogy of political ecology, identify vital challenges faced today, and present a new set of studies that respond to these concerns. We conceptualize power as a social relation built on the asymmetrical distribution of resources and risks and locate power in the interactions among, and the processes that constitute, people, places, and resources. Politics, then, are found in the practices and mechanisms through which Such power is circulated. The focus here is on politics related to the environment, understood as biophysical phenomena, together with human knowledge and practice. To apply these concepts, we promote multiscale research models that articulate selected ecological phenomena and local social processes, together with regional and global forces and ideas. We also advocate methods for research and practice that are sensitive to relations of difference and power among and within social groups. Rather than dilute ecological dimensions of study, this approach aims to strengthen Our ability to account for the dialectical processes through which humans appropriate, contest, and manipulate the world around them.