Chapter 19: Planetary crisis: environmentalism and the end of IR? Flashcards
What is the anthropocene?
The Anthropocene is the common name for an alleged but officially unrecognized geological epoch, dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth up to the present day.
What is the argument put forward by Burke et al. (2016) regarding the failure of IR as a discipline?
Burke et al. argue that IR has failed because it is institutionally organized around nation-states, neglecting collective human interaction with the biosphere. They advocate for a new transdisciplinary subject area called “Planet politics” to address environmental threats.
What is the critique presented by Peter Newell (2019) regarding the field of International Relations (IR) and environmentalism?
Peter Newell critiques the lack of systematic engagement with a Green perspective in IR, despite it being a discipline well-suited to explain global politics.
Discuss reasons for the historical omission of environmental concerns in IR
State-centric focus: Traditional IR theory has primarily focused on the actions and interactions of nation-states in the international system.
Primacy of security concerns: Historically, IR scholars and policymakers have prioritized security issues such as war, conflict, and nuclear proliferation over environmental concerns.
Anthropocentrism: IR theory has been anthropocentric, emphasizing human interests and interactions while overlooking the interconnectedness between human societies and the natural environment
Disciplinary boundaries: IR as a discipline has been slow to incorporate insights from other fields, such as environmental studies, ecology, and sustainability science
Short-termism and crisis response: IR scholarship and policymaking have often been characterized by short-term thinking and crisis response, focusing on immediate political and security challenges rather than long-term environmental sustainability
Power dynamics and vested interests: Powerful actors, including states, corporations, and interest groups, have often resisted efforts to address environmental challenges due to vested interests in maintaining the status quo
How can we properly understand the Anthropocene?
By confronting the Anthropocene requires the end of the ‘old’ IR and the birth of a new, radically transdisciplinary subject area: what they call ‘Planet politics.’
What critique does the interdisciplinary literature on environmentalism pose to the Anthropocene narrative?
The interdisciplinary literature questions the universalized assumptions embedded in the Anthropocene narrative, highlighting disparities in energy consumption and proposing alternative frameworks.
- if the 19 million inhabitants of New York consume more energy than 900 million inhabitants of sub-sahara africa, are we really all in this together?
According to Marxist scholars like Jason Moore (2015) and Andreas Malm (2016), what is proposed as an alternative framework to the Anthropocene?
Marxist scholars propose the Capitalocene as a better framework, attributing ecological destruction to capitalist production and its exploitation of nature.
Malm finds the origins of global warming in the Industrial Revolution and the rise of steam power
Ecological destruction is driven by capitalism and its reliance on the abuse, exhaustion and destruction of nature. Ecological destruction is a capitalist form of violence, and the class struggle is environmental
What do post- and decolonial scholars argue about the roots of the Anthropocene?
Post- and decolonial scholars argue that the roots of the Anthropocene lie in European colonialism, which led to the destruction of indigenous societies and ecologies, altering the ecosystem and contributing to climate change.
European colonialism went hand in hand with the destruction of indigenous societies and ecologies across Asia, Africa, and the Americas, through the introduction of logging, mining and the plantation agriculture
Lewis and Maslin (2018) have shown that the scale of colonial genocide in the americas was so massive that it altered the worlds ecosystem.
- 1610 was the start of the current environmental problems
- colonialism led the british to having the raw materials and food energy to start the industrial revolution leading to further exploitation of the environment
Who should shoulder the burden of climate mitigation and adoption costs?
(sealey-huggins, 2017) have proposed climate reparations to describe the debt the global north owes the south
Several key factors contribute to the uneven distribution of climate catastrophes
Geographic Vulnerability: Certain regions of the world are more susceptible to climate-related hazards such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires due to their geographical location, topography, and climate patterns.
Socio-economic Factors: Social and economic factors, including poverty, inequality, and lack of access to resources and infrastructure, amplify the vulnerability of communities to climate catastrophes
Inequitable Development: The legacy of colonialism, imperialism, and unequal development has perpetuated global inequalities in wealth, resources, and access to opportunities. Many developing countries and marginalized communities bear the brunt of climate catastrophes despite contributing minimally to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Limited access to technology, financial resources, and adaptive capacity further exacerbates their vulnerability
Political and Institutional Failures: Inadequate governance structures, weak institutions, corruption, and political instability can impede effective disaster preparedness, response, and recovery efforts
Global Interconnectedness: While climate catastrophes may manifest locally, their impacts can have far-reaching consequences that transcend national borders and affect global interconnectedness
Can capitalism be greened at all?
What is needed is a fundamental societal transformation beyond capitalism (Malm, 2016) (Moore, 2016)
Is the racial and colonial logics of the Anthropocene history?
Crucially, for post- and decolonial scholars the racial and colonial logics of the Anthropocene are not just history: indeed, racism and colonialism
also continue to structure the uneven distribution of climate change (Mitchell and Chaudhury, 2020)
