Contradictions of the ecowelfare state: The state and its construction of the human and nature

This paper explores the contradictions inherent in the (eco)welfare state, focusing on its dual role as a mechanism of capitalist crisis management and as an emergent site for addressing inequality and climate change. Rooted in Marxist and eco-critical traditions, it argues that inequality and climate change are interconnected byproducts of capitalist relations, which exploit both human labor and natural resources. These structural contradictions necessitate state intervention, exemplified by the welfare and ecowelfare states, which aim to regulate labor and the human-nature metabolism. Building on Jürgen Habermas and Claus Offe’s critical theory of the state and welfare state, this paper proposes an additional function—ecoregulation—to Offe’s “magic triangle” of the state, capitalism, and the political system that builds on the previous theorization of a fourth axis to the triangle, the “ecological system”. It identifies three central contradictions resulting from this reformulation in ecowelfare: the construction of “human” and “nature” that undermines state legitimacy, growth-oriented policies that perpetuate ecological degradation, and national-scale interventions that inadequately address planetary crises. The first contradiction relating to ecowelfare’s construction of the “human” and “nature” is explicated, explicating ecowelfare’s threat to state legitimacy and subsequent liberatory potential.

Recommended citation: Brown, C. T. (working). Contradictions of the ecowelfare state: The state and its construction of the human and nature.