Environmental Authoritarianism and Fascism Flashcards
Definition: Advocado politics
Politics that are green on the outside, but brown (hard-right) on the inside
In late 19th and early 20th century Germany, there was a cultural synthesis of
Naturalism and nationalism
Naturalism in Germany
Nature not inert matter to dominate through reason, but quasi-mystical entity to commune with
Nationalism in Germany
Well-being of German people linked to well-being of German soil, nature, and nation
How does the Völkisch Movement represent the synthesis of naturalism and nationalism, and how does it connect to race? (4 points)
- Uniting ethnocentric populism with nature mysticism
- Rejects modernity (capitalism, industrialization, urbanization)
- Instead, advocates return to land, simplicity, natural purity, living in sync with nature
- Personifies modernity as Judaism and connects it with the destruction of the environment -> naturalism and nationalism go hand in hand with antisemitism
How was the inventor of “ecology” (Ernst Haeckel) connected to antisemitism?
He applied biological concepts on society by saying that human society should be governed by the same laws as nature, and he framed modernity and thus Jews as being “against the law of nature” which gave a new justification for anti-semitism
What were the characteristics of the Wandervögel youth movement?
Connected nature mysticism and hostility to reason with environmental conservation and immersion in nature
What philosophy were the Wandervögel youth movement inspired by?
Ludwig Klages blamed modernity’s destruction of environment and people’s detachment from nature on reason and rationality
He argued that rationality creates distance which creates alienation. This should be replaced by emotional connections, more romantic and felt
In what 3 ways was the Nazis inspired by the Wandervögel youth movement’s philosophy?
- Reducing the social to the biological
- Mystical romantic rejection of modernity and reason
- Requires eliminating the threat to the environment
In what 2 ways are Nazi ideology connected to the environment?
Ecology and environment are key to Nazi ideology through:
- Denigrating human agency in favor of natural order, and systems of human life must thus be moded on nature, otherwise it will lead to social and environmental devastation
- Emphasizing organic holism, which has authoritarian implications (individual can be sacrified for totality) and racist implications (urbanized and overcivilized human race is responsible for destroying the wellbeing of the whole and must be eliminated)
Definition: Holism
Parts of a whole can’t exist independently or be understood but in relation to the whole, which therefore takes priority over parts
How was ecology and environment key thought in Nazi ideology?
They could under the guise of environmental protection (prioritizing nature and natural order, advocating for organic holism etc.), they found justification for racial hatred (threats to the whole and natural order must be eliminated)
What were some Nazi policies in the fields of agriculture, industrial and technology, and environment?
Agricultural policy: organic farming, keeping soil healthy, government support
Industrial and technological policy: construction projects must be constructed in environmentally sensitive way
Environmental law: reforestation, species protection, preservation, restrictions on natural resource use, requirement to consult “nature-reserve” authorities in advance of development
How was the environment used to justify genocide?
National Socialism personified modernity (capitalism, industrialization, urbanization) as expressions of Judaism, and thus when blaming modernity for environmental degradation, blaming Jews.
To correct for environmental degradation and returning German people to nature, Nazism sought to eliminate Judaism -> genocide developed into a necessity under the cloak of environmental protection
Definition: environmental authoritarianism
The state uses environment to concentrate, entrench, and justify authoritarian rule
3 Characteristics of environmental authoritarianism in China
- Expanding state’s regulatory scope to eco and eco-related issues
- Coopting non-state actors (NGOs, media, scientists) into state’s eco agenda, expanding discursive control
- Shoring up state’s own power under the guise of repairing the environment
What are the problems with environmental authoritarianism in China?
While there has been actual environmental progress, it has come at the expense of individual rights and social freedoms, and China is still plagued by environmental challenges (pollution, contamination)
Why is there environmental authotarianism in China and not authoritarian environmentalism?
Because environmental protection is not the goal, the goal is authoritarianism and entrenching top-down, coercive power
Authoritarian environmentalism
Using authoritarian means to accomplish environmental goals (with the thought that if the end goal is noble enough, the means do not matter)
How does environmental authoritarianism increase state power?
Increased OUTWARD manifestation of power: moving populations, building dams -> leaving physical mark environment -> sends message of power
Increased INWARD experience of power: using morality banks to reward/punish environmental actions -> penetrating further into everyday system of citizens
Morality banks
Social credit system awarding points for virtuous deeds and deducting them for immoral behavior
How is environmental authoritarianism a modernist project?
Mastery and control of people and the material world are key ingredients
How can different responses to modern ethos inform questionable eco-politics?
For Nazis, human domination of nature thought to be root of social and eco decline
By contrast, for China, human domination of nature and people thought to be the root of advance
What is top-down environmental coercion also sometimes at play in the West? 2 examples
UNFCCC program “Recuding Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation” where rich countries pay poor countries to not cut down forests and thus prevent citizens from having a say in how they want to use the land
Using the climate crisis as rational for tighter borders and stronger nationalism, where maintaining the purity of wilderness is conflated with maintaining “purity of race” (e.g. immigration pollutes the environment -> stronger borders)
In what 3 ways can we avoid eco-coercion, according to Gilman?
- Avoiding framework and language of catastrophe which can motivate environmental neo-fascism just as easily as mainstream environmental engagement
- Understanding how past illiberal political projects took up environmentalism to reduce the chances of repeating it in new forms today (historical form connected to prescriptive content)
- Stop reducing social systems and dynamics (contingent, mutable) to natural systems and dynamics (necessary, immutable); stop unreflectively applying natural scientific concepts onto society
How can we avoid eco-coercion, according to Li and Shapiro?
We must interrogate political implications of different courses of environmental action, esp. when they seem “neutral”, as they can be used to advance other political goals
