Description:
The special issue New Swedish environmental and sustainability education research, published in Education & Democracy 20(1), introduced a novel generation of Swedish ESD research. With the intention to spur academic debate this rejoinder offers alternative interpretations of some of the findings in the special issue. The article contests the special issue’s proclaimed distinction between empirical studies and ideological debate in the field of ESD research, and points to the contradiction between the special issue’s promotion of ‘pluralism’ and the absence of critical interrogations of sustainable development. Theoretically informed by post-Marxist thought the concept post-politics is employed to shed new light on sustainable development and its companion ESD. It is argued that the contributions in the special issue are partly embedded in a post-political logic and that several findings are open for far more radical interpretations. This suggests, ultimately, that there is a need for alternative pathways that can challenge and complement mainstream ESD research.