
Sustainability Inverted
How Environmental Policies Control People
Jin Sato(Author)
MIT Press
Published on 19. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-0-262-05343-3 (ISBN)
Description
What environmental policies do to people, beyond what they do to the climate, forests, air, or water.
Sustainability Inverted explores the hidden politics of environmental policy and the unintended consequences of “inversion” policy—policies that turn potential local collaborators into adversaries, thus creating relationships that undermine the very objectives the policies seek to achieve. Jin Sato argues that the key to addressing inversion lies in rebalancing the disrupted relations of interdependence and empowering individuals and organizations closer to the ground. The result is a more sustainable policy direction, the wisdom of which has been overlooked in favor of self-reliance and independence in developmental goals.
Based on extensive fieldwork in Southeast Asia, this book vividly illustrates how the state exploits the most lucrative resources while local communities are left with what are deemed “communal resources.” Consequently, these local people, who are supposedly partners in conservation efforts, become adversaries of the state. The book offers a fresh perspective on fostering interdependency among communities and challenges the conventional wisdom in the Global North that excessively prioritizes technology as a solution to environmental problems.
Sustainability Inverted explores the hidden politics of environmental policy and the unintended consequences of “inversion” policy—policies that turn potential local collaborators into adversaries, thus creating relationships that undermine the very objectives the policies seek to achieve. Jin Sato argues that the key to addressing inversion lies in rebalancing the disrupted relations of interdependence and empowering individuals and organizations closer to the ground. The result is a more sustainable policy direction, the wisdom of which has been overlooked in favor of self-reliance and independence in developmental goals.
Based on extensive fieldwork in Southeast Asia, this book vividly illustrates how the state exploits the most lucrative resources while local communities are left with what are deemed “communal resources.” Consequently, these local people, who are supposedly partners in conservation efforts, become adversaries of the state. The book offers a fresh perspective on fostering interdependency among communities and challenges the conventional wisdom in the Global North that excessively prioritizes technology as a solution to environmental problems.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge (Massachusetts)
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Illustrations
17
Dimensions
Height: 152 mm
Width: 229 mm
Thickness: 38 mm
Weight
366 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-262-05343-3 (9780262053433)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2026
MIT Press
€48.99
Available for download
Person
Jin Sato
Content
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Invisible State Power
Chapter 1 Mechanisms: From dominance over nature to dominance over people
Chapter 2 Knowledge: A Scientist Stands with Pollution Victims
Chapter 3 Exclusion: Comparative history of environmental states in Japan and Thailand
Chapter 4 Release: The Cambodian government relinquishes control over fisheries
Chapter 5 Compulsion: Maintaining irrigation infrastructures in Indonesia
Chapter 6 Solution: Promise and challenge of intermediary groups
Conclusion: Renewing Interdependency
References
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Invisible State Power
Chapter 1 Mechanisms: From dominance over nature to dominance over people
Chapter 2 Knowledge: A Scientist Stands with Pollution Victims
Chapter 3 Exclusion: Comparative history of environmental states in Japan and Thailand
Chapter 4 Release: The Cambodian government relinquishes control over fisheries
Chapter 5 Compulsion: Maintaining irrigation infrastructures in Indonesia
Chapter 6 Solution: Promise and challenge of intermediary groups
Conclusion: Renewing Interdependency
References
Index