Theory of regulation and political ecology: an inevitable separation?

Departing from a critique of the concept of Political Ecology of Alain Lipietz for its failure to integrate Political Ecology and the Theory of Regulation, we present a possible way of integrating the two approaches via the formulation of a sixth structural form: the social relation towards nature or ecological constraint. Finally, we illustrate the usefulness of this category by applying it to an analysis of the recent developments in the biotechnology industry. (author's abstract)