Environmental issue entrepreneurship: a Schumpeterian perspective

In this paper, the recent growth in national and international environmental legislation and the subsequent emergence of rather vague ecological concepts like sustainable development and the precautionary principle, are analyzed from a Schumpeterian perspective in which polical issue entrepreneurschip plays a central role. Schumpeter wrote that the emergence of unfavorable circumstances in capitalist societies will activate strong opposition from social critics and intellectuals. Is modern environmentalism one of the most powerful recent forces that will further impact capitalism? Did Schumpeter foresee this evolution and what are the mechanisms that did lead to this situation? We discuss aspects of Schumpeterian issue entrepreneurship and relate these to theories on the emergence of environmental regulation, the expansion of environmental organizations, the use of new instruments in environmental policy and pro-active business strategies. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.