Eco-imperialist

On the one hand, the types of technical regulations discussed above are not eco-imperialist, since they specify the nature of the product itself - it must be packaged a certain way, or must be recyclable - rather than how the product is produced.

The position of Malaysia was fervently defended by then Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, defining the discourse on “environmental justice”, and upholding the right to development of the countries in the South, against the “eco-imperialist” position of wealthy countries of the North.

This eco-imperialist logic was expounded by Larry Summers, chief economist of the World Bank, in his 1991 memo to a senior World Bank official.

International environmental activists are condemned as racist "eco-imperialists" and domestic activists are Malaysia's "Number 1 traitors."

Like the European imperialists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Driessen claims, today's eco-imperialists keep developing countries destitute for the benefit of the developed world.

In his book Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death, Paul Driessen (2005) argues that present-day eco-imperialists are similar to European imperialists of the seventeenth century in that they attempt to keep developing countries poor for the benefit of the developed world.