Towards an Insurgent Ecological Law

limits and potentials of Law as an instrument to a just eco-social transition

Abstract

This article provides a constructive critique of Ecological Law, which has been proposed as a framework to overcome Environmental Law’s subordination to economic growth and profit maximization in disregard for socioecological justice and biophysical planetary boundaries. The article critiques Ecological Law literature for its normativist positivist approach, which neglects to analyze law as a product of power relations and as a social form of capitalism, and for overestimating law’s potential to transform the political economy. Additionally, the article addresses the shortcomings of the degrowth discourse, one of the bedrocks of Ecological Law. Finally, drawing on Pressburger and Pazello’s conceptualization of Insurgent Law and literature on the praxis of movement lawyering in Brazil, the article proposes guidelines for an Insurgent Ecological Law. This approach combines Marxist critique of law with contributions to the strategic reflections of popular movements on their use of legal tactics as part of their struggles for a post-capitalist ecosocial transition.