Published In
Critical Perspectives on Accounting
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2026
Subjects
Critical dialogic accounting and accountability, Environmental accounting, Critical environmental politics, Agonistic pluralism, Depoliticization, Repoliticization; Climate change; Democracy
Abstract
To foster and advance critical environmental accounting and accountability (CEAA) research, we argue there is a need to foreground the political dimensions of environmental issues by addressing plurality, conflict, contestability and power. Contemporary environmental accounting and accountability (EAA), especially as it is increasingly mainstreamed, often remains entrenched in allegedly apolitical technocratic-managerial and market logics. At the same time climate denialism and authoritarian neoliberalism intensify pressures against critical research. Drawing on critical environmental politics scholarship, we interpret these developments as part of broader depoliticizing and anti-democratic formations that narrow the questions EAA asks, how problems are represented, and the socio-ecological futures imaginable. Focusing on climate change, we position critical dialogic accounting and accountability (CDAA) as one possible path for politically revitalizing EAA by deepening understanding of, and providing responses to, the antidemocratic conditions that blunt EAA's critical force.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2026 The Authors Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1016/j.cpa.2026.102883
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/45321
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation Details
Brown, J., & Dillard, J. (2026). Critical environmental accounting and accountability in anti-democratic times: Agonistic repoliticization and critical environmental politics. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 104, 102883.