FROM CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE TO OBEDIENT CONSUMERISM: INFLUENCES OF MARKET-BASED ACTIVISM AND ECO-CERTIFICATION ON FOREST GOVERNANCE

Abstract

This article looks at the implicit politics of eco-certification as an activist strategy. Drawing on the example of the Forest Stewardship Council and forestry activism in British Columbia during the 1990s, this article considers underlying norms of the certification approach, the inherent limitations of its institutional setting, and the empowering and disempowering implications for participants in forest policy debates. These implicit politics may have a disciplining influence on public debate regarding the future of environmental regulation, and governance more generally, at a time when wider experimentation with alternative approaches is both necessary and otherwise timely. The analysis draws attention to the continuing need to focus on issues of democratic control and authority, rather than settling for governance mechanisms consistent with neoliberal ideology.