Ecological modernisation or the ‘ideal model’ of sustainable development? Questions prompted at Europe's periphery

Some commentators see ecological modernisation as little more than a techno‐managerialist discourse legitimating the neoliberal free trade and modernisation agenda; others as having more radical potential presaging green social democratic government and strong sustainability. But on either reading, this discourse, forming the basis of EU environmental policies, contains weaknesses and contradictions. These emerge when examining the operationalisation of sustainability policies at Europe's periphery, in Ireland. In practice, the Single Market's tendency to emphasise core‐periphery economic contrasts encourages pnoritisation of approaches to economic growth that neglect and inhibit stronger sustainability conditions. Attempts to achieve wealth redistribution and economic democracy via structural and cohesion spending are offset by the tendency of the EU's economic agenda to concentrate wealth. Attempts to reform institutional and business perspectives on sustainability are frustrated by the exigencies of global competition. It would be unrealistic to expect anything different, given the nature of the global economic order. We should therefore re‐examine a more radical, ‘ideal model’ of sustainable development. Often dismissed as ‘Utopian’, this model may in fact be less so than ecological modernisation, containing economic, social and geographical elements offering greater prospects of economic security and strong sustainability for Europe's periphery.