A CRISIS of EXPERTISE: LEGITIMACY and the CHALLENGE of POLICYMAKING CONFERENCE - MELBOURNE SCHOOL of GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY of MELBOURNE DRAFT Subject to Change

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

A CRISIS of EXPERTISE: LEGITIMACY and the CHALLENGE of POLICYMAKING CONFERENCE - MELBOURNE SCHOOL of GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY of MELBOURNE DRAFT Subject to Change A CRISIS OF EXPERTISE: LEGITIMACY AND THE CHALLENGE OF POLICYMAKING CONFERENCE - MELBOURNE SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE DRAFT subject to change. Does NOT reflect session speaking order PROGRAM Day 1 – Thursday 15 February, 2018 9.30am-10.00am Coffee & registration 10.00am-10.15am Opening and Acknowledgement of Country Professor Robyn Eckersley, University of Melbourne Dr Jeremy Baskin, University of Melbourne 10.15am-11.15am Keynote Address: Professor Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy School KEYNOTE OPENING & Toward a post-modern constitution: Reason and Representation in the 21st century Chair: Dr James Parker, University of Melbourne 11.15am-11.45am Morning tea 11.45am-1.00pm Session 1: Contested knowledge: truth, trust and expertise - Chair: Professor Robyn Eckersley, University of Melbourne Dr Darrin Durant, University of Melbourne, Expertise and the Goldilocks Principle Professor Colin Wight, University of Sydney, TITLE TBC, Dr Helen Sullivan, Australian National University, Nostalgia, Nirvana and the painful persistence of ‘unknown knowns’ in public policy 1.00pm-1.45pm Lunch 1.45pm-3.00pm Session 2 2.1 –Public institutions and social Imaginaries in knowledge 2.2 –Politics and Discourses of expertise 2.3 –Ways of seeing: Legitimacy, authority, and the 2.4 –MSoG mini-lab production Chair: TBC creation of expertise Trust in experts: Chair: Daniel McCarthy, University of Melbourne Mark Badger, Australian National University Chair: TBC understanding barriers and Dr Georgia Miller, University of New South Wales The facts can’t speak for themselves: why politics and Associate Professor David Mercer, University of drivers Session STARTS at 13h30 Securing state sponsorship for nanotechnology: The divergent persuasion are essential to science Wollongong form and work of sociotechnical imaginaries in the United States Wendy Russell, Double Arrow Consulting The crisis of expertise? Continuities and discontinuities Convenor: Dr. Kate Neely, and Australia Crisis of discourse? Citizen deliberation as an intervention to in the processes of legitimating and challenging the University of Melbourne authority of experts KNOWLEDGE & SOCIETY Professor Jon Pierre, University of Gothenburg, University of bring needed virtues into practice Melbourne Dr Jeremy Baskin, University of Melbourne Dr Declan Kuch, University of New South Wales Note: this session is limited to Trust and expertise: The institutional dimension of expertise The sound of extinction: affect and expertise om am age of Subjects, numbers, narratives: the limits of QALY and 20 participants – send tCO2-e as regulatory devices Ruth O’Connor et al, Australian National University risk management expressions of interest to How expert knowledge is valued and communicated in the Dr Rey Tiquia, University of Melbourne msog- natural resource management sector Clinical Evidence, Medical Expertise and Traditional [email protected] Chinese Medicine 3.00pm-3.30pm Afternoon tea 3.30pm-4.45pm Session 3: What knowledge counts when making policy? A conversation - Chair: Professor Sundhya Pahuja, University of Melbourne Dr Richard Denniss, Australia Institute Gordon de Brouwer, Former public servant / University of Canberra Professor Kerry Arabena, University of Melbourne PRACTICE POLICY IN Professor Joan Leach, Australian National University 4.45pm-6.15pm Session 4 4.1 – Experts, evidence and hierarchies of expertise 4.2 – Publics and participation 4.4 – Climate’s science, politics and policy Chair: Dr. Stephanie Lavau, University of Melbourne Chair: TBC Chair: Dr. Julia Dehm, LaTrobe University Dr Rebecca Pearse, University of Sydney Professor Richard Hindmarsh, Griffith University Dr Peter Tangney, Flinders University Climate change economics has never been post-political: Expert The crisis of expertise and civic participation in the making of public policy Examining the politics of Australian climate science expertise dissensus and the failure of Australia’s emissions trading scheme through the public inquiry on science, technology, and environmental Dr Graeme Pearman, University of Melbourne Dr Kari Lancaster, University of New South Wales change Climate change, science and policy Problematising the ‘evidence-based’ policy paradigm Professor Fiona Haines et al, University of Melbourne Kate Dooley et al, University of Melbourne Dr Cosmo Howard, Griffith University The Familiar and the Strange: Understanding the Connection between Co-producing climate policy: negative emissions, land-use and Statistical bargains: Relationships between politicians and Science, Technology and Social Protest around Coal Seam Gas in Australia sustainable futures statisticians Dr David Nolan et al, University of Melbourne POLICY IN PRACTICE Dr Ronlyn Duncan et al, Landcare Research NZ Expertise, Public Opinion and Indigenous Policy Agendas: Shifting media Examining co-production and the role of brokers within New assemblages and their implications *This session concludes at 6.00pm Zealand’s ‘science advisory ecosystem’ Dr Rebecca Nelson, University of Melbourne Law, science, and water under pressure: governing data in a water democracy 6.30pm Reception and Dinner Main Dining Room, University House, Professors Walk, University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus PROGRAM Day 2 – Friday 16 February, 2018 KEYNOTE 9.30am-10.30am Keynote Address: Professor Andy Stirling, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Expertise & Democracy: from adversarial crisis to mutualistic renewal Chair: Dr Jeremy Baskin, University of Melbourne 10.30am-11.00am Morning tea 11.00am-12.15pm Session 5: New approaches, new paradigms - Chair: Professor Lars Coenen, University of Melbourne Dr Kathryn Davidson, University of Melbourne, New global city governance: City networks as medium of effective urban governance experimentation in institutionalizing policy renewal? Associate Professor Matthew Kearnes, University of New South Wales, Beyond residual realisms: four paths for remaking participation with science and democracy Professor Brian Head, University of Queensland, Pathways to policy innovation: Nudge experiments VS collaborative design 12.15pm-1.15pm Lunch 1.15pm-2.30pm Session 6 6.1 – Deliberation, democracy and experimentation 6.2 – Locating and negotiating the distribution of expertise 6.3 – Policy co-design across boundaries of experience and expertise Chair: TBC Chair: TBC Chair: TBC Dr Jonathon Pickering et al, University of Canberra Hayley Pring et al, Australian National University Alan Petersen, Monash University Democratising planetary boundaries Modelling a Strategic Response for Universities to the Rise of Think Tanks Experts and expertise in the age of ‘evidence-based activism’: Alan Ryan, Australian Civil Military Centre in Australian Public Policy exploring the case of patient and health activists No room for gifted amateurs: Why effective future policy-making Dr Jordan Tchilingirian, University of Bath Amanda Reeves et al, ARTD Consultants needs integrated learning and cross-agency expertise. Policy intellectuals in a time of crisis: A social network analysis of British Co-design: Repositioning expertise in policy making Dr Amy Kaminski, National Aeronautics and Space Administration think-tanks and the field of policy-knowledge production 2005 - 2017 Professor Annica Kronsell, Lund University Space for the People? NASA’s Experiences with Democratizing Dr Anca Hanea et al, University of Melbourne Municipalities as enablers? - On the role of municipalities in INNOVATION & EXPERIMENTATION Innovation and Decision-making Structured Expert Judgement: the art of using subjective data as experimental governance objectively as possible Dr Peat Leith, University of Tasmania Reflexive boundary work gets things done by denying its own existence Closing Reflections and Conference closure 2.30pm-3.15pm Details to be confirmed Professor John Howe, Director Melbourne School of Government, University of Melbourne CLOSING .
Recommended publications
  • Global Environment 1 20 Global Environment Robyn Eckersley
    CH-20: Global environment 20 Global environment Robyn Eckersley Chapter contents Introduction XXX Environmental multilateralism and the USA XXX Explaining US foreign environment policy XXX Conclusion XXX Introduction This chapter critically explores the evolution of US foreign policy on environmental issues over four and a half decades, from the Nixon administration to the Obama administration, with a brief examination of pro- spects under the new Trump administration. It shows that while the USA was widely regarded as an envi- ronmental leader during the Cold War period, it has more often than not been an environmental laggard in the post-Cold War period. The Obama administration’s reengagement in climate diplomacy stands out as a significant exception but its efforts have been rapidly wound back by the new Trump administration. The larger trend of waning environmental leadership has occurred at the same time as international environmen- tal problems, most notably climate change, have increasingly moved from the periphery towards the centre of international politics. This trend is attributed to the more challenging character of the new generation of global environmental problems that emerged in the late 1980s (particularly climate change), increasing do- mestic political polarisation on environmental issues exacerbated by an organised campaign by conservative think tanks, general concerns over economic competition with a rising powers in the global South and a gen- eral political failure to recalibrate US grand strategy in the light of the increasing threats of catastrophic global environmental risks despite increasing engagement with energy and climate security by the US mili- tary. 1 CH-20: Global environment During most of the period of the Cold War, the environment was widely regarded as a matter of ‘low poli- tics’ for state foreign policy makers as well as international relations scholars (Smith 1993).
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter Five Ecology and Political Theory Chapter 6 Is Concerned with Explanatory Social Theory; This One Is About the Encounter
    From Ecology and Society, Polity Press, 1994, Luke Martell See published book for notes and references Chapter Five Ecology and Political Theory Chapter 6 is concerned with explanatory social theory; this one is about the encounter of ecology with normative political theory. Radical greens claim that ecology constitutes a new perspective in political theory which leaves behind the older longstanding traditions. They argue that there is a green view of society and politics and that specific social and political arrangements can be argued for on green grounds. Just as there are conservative, liberal and socialist political theories and forms of social and political organization, so there is a green political theory and green forms of social and political organization. The main issue in the encounter of ecology with political theory is whether ecology does undermine traditional political theories and constitutes a new theory itself. In the light of the rise of ecology are traditional political theories put into question or how should they be altered? Does ecology constitute a new paradigm through which environmental, social and political issues can be answered on green grounds? These are important questions because they determine which theoretical perspectives can help with fundamental environmental, social and political concerns. There are two issues: (1) the implications of ecology for traditional political theory and (2) the possibility of a green political theory. 1 Ecology as revolutionary for political theory. Ecologists do bring new insights to political theory. They bring in nature in two mould-breaking ways. First, they show that there are natural limits to social and political life.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Tasmania Law Review
    UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA LAW REVIEW VOLUME 37, NUMBER 2 SPECIAL ISSUE: IMAGINING A DIFFERENT FUTURE, OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO CLIMATE JUSTICE University of Tasmania Law Review VOLUME 37 NUMBER 2 2018 SPECIAL ISSUE: IMAGINING A DIFFERENT FUTURE, OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO CLIMATE JUSTICE Introduction NICKY VAN DIJK, JAN LINEHAN AND PETER LAWRENCE 1 Articles Imagining Different Futures through the Courts: A Social Movement Assessment of Existing and Potential New Approaches to Climate Change Litigation in Australia DANNY NOONAN 25 Justice and Climate Transitions JEREMY MOSS AND ROBYN KATH 70 Ecocide and the Carbon Crimes of the Powerful ROB WHITE 95 Individual Moral Duties Amidst Climate Injustice: Imagining a Sustainable Future STEVE VANDERHEIDEN 116 Lawfare, Standing and Environmental Discourse: A Phronetic Analysis BRENDON MURPHY AND JEFFREY MCGEE 131 Non-Peer Reviewed Article Climate, Culture and Music: Coping in the Anthropocene SIMON KERR 169 The University of Tasmania Law Review (UTLR) has been publishing articles on domestic, international and comparative law for over 50 years. Two issues are published in each volume. One issue is published in winter, and one is published in summer. Contributors We welcome the submission of scholarly and research articles of any length (preferably 4000–10 000 words) on legal topics, particularly those concerning Tasmania, Australia or international law. Articles and papers should be accompanied by a brief (200 word) abstract. Contributions are to be submitted using the online form available at: http://www.utas.edu.au/law/publications/university-of-tasmania-law- review/submission-form. Co-authored articles should be identified as such in the ‘Comments to the Editors’ field and all authors other than the lead author are required complete the University of Tasmania Law Review Submission and Publication Agreement using the form available at: http://www.utas.edu.au/law/publications/university-of-tasmania-law- review/co-author-submission-form.
    [Show full text]
  • 8-10 February 2018 Conference Day 1 Thursday 8Th February 2018
    Imagining a Different Future Overcoming Barriers to Climate Justice Conference, Arts & Community Events Medical Science Precinct, Cnr Liverpool & Campbell St, Hobart 8-10 February 2018 Conference Day 1 Thursday 8th February 2018 8.15-9.00 Registration 9.00-9.30 Opening: Dianne Nicol, Provost, University of Tasmania Welcome to Country: Aunty Verna 9.30-11.00 Theme 1: Climate Justice – World Views, Justice & Ethics Keynote Session 1 Chair: Dirk Baltzly Human Dignity, Imagination and the Framings of Climate Justice Marcus Düwell, Utrecht University Climate Change: Against Despair Catriona McKinnon, University of Reading Historical Justice and the Climate Transition Jeremy Moss, University of New South Wales 11.00 Refreshment Break 11.30-13.00 Parallel Sessions 1 Neoliberalism/Growth Moral Corruption/Anthropocene and Justice, Duties, Differentiation Ethics/Transitions Chair: Ben Richardson Chair: Marcus Düwell Chair: David Coady Neoliberalism, Climate Justice and Non-Human Corruption and Climate Change, An Institutional How to do Justice to Each Other? Reconfiguring the Capabilities Approach Notion of Justice in Climate Change Discourse Rosemary Lyster, University of Sydney Liesbeth Feikema, Utrecht University Karin Hutflotz, Munich School of Philosophy Limits to growth and fair shares: Neoliberal economics Can There Be an Ethics for the Anthropocene? Emerging Economies, Dwindling Differentiation and leads climate justice astray Clive Hamilton Charles Sturt University (TBC) Elusive Climate Justice Karey Harrison, University of Southern Queensland
    [Show full text]
  • At Melbourne Sustainability
    STORIES ON ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCHERS WHO WANT AT MELBOURNE 15 TO CHANGE THE WORLD Welcome Sustainability is a daunting topic. and careful prediction about future stresses. We may no longer be able Yet the people profiled in this short to prevent a warmer world, but good survey of sustainability work at Melbourne research can encourage resilience believe in the power of ideas and the and anticipate challenges. possibility of action. Each combines a commitment to critical inquiry with a Though just a small sample of work practical program to make a difference. on a vital subject, Sustainability at Melbourne is informed by a quiet So colleagues are charting temperatures optimism: we can make a difference. and mapping past climates, drawing Research provides a basis for action on Indigenous history to illuminate to address the scientific and political land management, saving wildlife, challenge of creating a sustainable future. building green roofs and solar panels, promoting geothermal power. There is a Regards, determination to work with environmental realities from fire to urban settlements. Scholars work on supply chains for food, clean water for thirsty cities, and better health amid a very different climate. Research provides a common theme – understand what is happening to our Glyn Davis climate so we can respond in thoughtful Vice-Chancellor ways. This means discussion of evidence University of Melbourne, 2015 Publication produced by Picture shows the Melbourne School of Design building, which opened in 2014 and has been awarded a 6 star Greenstar Education Design Rating. It’s home to the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute From water, food and climate change to protecting wildlife and improving the way our cities work, the University of Melbourne is committed to excellent research on sustainability.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the Conference Program
    A CRISIS OF EXPERTISE: LEGITIMACY AND THE CHALLENGE OF POLICYMAKING CONFERENCE - MELBOURNE SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE Subject to change. Does NOT reflect session speaking order PROGRAM Day 1 – Thursday 15 February 2018 9.30am-10.00am Coffee & registration 10.00am-10.15am Opening and Acknowledgement of Country Robyn Eckersley, University of Melbourne Jeremy Baskin, University of Melbourne 10.15am-11.15am Keynote Address: Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy School KEYNOTE OPENING & OPENING Toward a post-modern constitution: Reason and representation in the 21st century Chair: James Parker, University of Melbourne 11.15am-11.45am Morning tea 11.45am-1.00pm Session 1: Contested knowledge: truth, trust and expertise - Chair: Robyn Eckersley, University of Melbourne Darrin Durant, University of Melbourne, Expertise and the Goldilocks Principle Colin Wight, University of Sydney, Post-Truth, politics, and dealing with uncertainty Helen Sullivan, Australian National University, Nostalgia, nirvana and the painful persistence of ‘unknown knowns’ in public policy 1.00pm-1.45pm Lunch 1.45pm-3.00pm Session 2 2.1 – Public institutions and social imaginaries in knowledge 2.2 – Politics and Discourses of expertise 2.3 – Ways of seeing: Legitimacy, authority and the 2.4 – Mini MSoG Lab production Chair: Gyorgy Scrinis, University of Melbourne creation of expertise Trust in experts: Chair: Daniel McCarthy, University of Melbourne Chair: Terry MacDonald, University of Melbourne understanding
    [Show full text]
  • Contributors
    04441_Contr.qxd 2/4/05 11:34 PM Page 299 Contributors John Barry is reader in politics and deputy director of the Institute of Governance, Public Policy and Social Research at Queens University, Belfast. He has written extensively about normative aspects of environmental politics. His publications include Rethinking Green Politics: Nature, Virtue, Progress (1999); Environment and Social Theory (1999); Citizenship, Sustainability and Environmental Research (2000), with John Proops; and he has co-edited Sustaining Liberal Democracy: Ecological Challenges and Opportunties (2001), with Marcel Wissenburg; The International Encyclopedia of Environmental Politics (2001), with Gene Frankland; and Europe, Globalization and Sustainable Development (2004), with Brian Baxter and Richard Dunphy. Raymond Bryant is reader in geography at King’s College, London. He has writ- ten extensively on political ecology and the political economy of natural resource use. His books include The Political Ecology of Forestry in Burma (1997); Environmental Management: New Directions for the Twenty-First Century (1997), with Geoff Wilson; Third World Political Ecology (1997), with Sinead Bailey; and Making Moral Capital: Non-Governmental Organizations in Environmental Struggles (2005). Peter Christoff teaches and coordinates environmental studies in the School of Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Melbourne. Formerly the assistant to the Commission of the Environment in Victoria, he is on the board of Greenpeace Australia-Pacific and vice-president of the Australian Conservation Foundation. Ken Conca is an associate professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland and director of the Harrison Program on the Future Global Agenda. His research and teaching focus on global environmental politics, political econ- omy, environmental policy, North-South issues, and peace and conflict studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Imagining a Different Future, Overcoming Barriers to Climate Justice
    Introduction to the Special Issue: Imagining a Different Future, Overcoming Barriers to Climate Justice NICKY VAN DIJK,* JAN LINEHAN** AND PETER LAWRENCE*** I INTRODUCTION This special issue is focused on climate justice and grew out of a multi- disciplinary conference entitled Imagining a Different Future, Overcoming Barriers to Climate Justice, held in Hobart in early 2018.1 The conference was inspired by a concern that the prevailing neoliberal political and economic thinking is not responding effectively to the challenge of climate change, and excludes key ethical considerations, despite climate change’s urgency and seriousness.2 The announcement by the United States in 2016 of its intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and the seeming turn to nativism and populism in a number of countries, with the implicit or explicit rejection of cooperative global3 approaches, are particularly * PhD candidate, Faculty of Law, College of Arts, Law and Education, University of Tasmania. ** Adjunct Researcher, Faculty of Law, College of Arts, Law and Education, University of Tasmania. *** Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, College of Arts, Law and Education, University of Tasmania. 1 In this introduction, the Imagining a Different Future, Overcoming Barriers to Climate Justice Conference, Hobart, Australia 8-10 February 2018 will be referred to as ‘IDF’. See www.climatejustice.network for the program; for recordings of the more than 80 presentations, the talk at the Town Hall by Steve Vanderheiden, and the evening of Climate Music; and for student reports of the discussions in the conference and the community forums. Jan Linehan and Peter Lawrence were co-convenors of the Conference, and would like to express their gratitude to all the supporting institutions, speakers, volunteers and participants in the Conference and community forums.
    [Show full text]
  • Democracy and Green Political Thought
    DEMOCRACY AND GREEN POLITICAL THOUGHT The green movement has posed some tough questions for traditional justifications of democracy. Should the natural world have rights? Can we take account of the interests of future generations? Do we need to replace existing institutions to deal with the ecological crisis? But questions have also been asked of the greens. Could their idealism undermine democracy? Can greens be effective democrats? In this book some of the leading writers on green political thought analyse these questions, examining the discourse of green movements concerning democracy, the status of democracy within green political thought, and the political institutions that might be necessary to ensure democracy in a sustainable society. The debates are not simply about the compatibility of democracy with green ideas, but also about how best to define democracy itself. The authors suggest that greens still have considerable work to do in fleshing out the weaker elements in their conceptions of democracy. In particular, representative institutions would still have an important role to play in any green democracy. But taking green ideas seriously does require reconsideration of some of the central foundations of liberal democracy, including the scope of the moral community and the privileged status of the atomised individual citizen, divorced from nature. Contributors: Wouter Achterberg, John Barry, Neil Carter, Peter Christoff, Andrew Dobson, Brian Doherty, Robyn Eckersley, Marius de Geus, Michael Kenny, Mike Mills and Michael Saward. EUROPEAN POLITICAL SCIENCE SERIES Edited by Hans Keman Vrije University, Amsterdam On behalf of the European Consortium for Political Research The European Political Science Series is published in Association with the European Consortium for Political Research—the leading organisation concerned with the growth and development of political science in Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Bioregion, Eco-Polis, and Eco(Nomic)-Federation: Left - Libertarian Models of Sustainability - REGINA COCHRANE
    INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – Bioregion, Eco-polis, and Eco(nomic)-Federation: Left - Libertarian Models of Sustainability - REGINA COCHRANE BIOREGION, ECO-POLIS, AND ECO (NOMIC)-FEDERATION: LEFT-LIBERTARIAN MODELS OF SUSTAINABILITY Regina Cochrane University of Calgary, Canada Keywords: Anarchy, anarchism, anarchocommunalism, anarchocommunism, anarcho- individualism, anarchosyndicalism, bioregionalism, capitalism, centralism, collectivism, community, critical ecofeminism, decentralism, deep ecology, direct democracy, ecolibertarianism, economic democracy, ecoregionalism, ecosocialism, ecotechnologies, federation, globalization, hierarchy, human-scale, individualism, industrialism, labor, left-libertarianism, liberalism, libertarian confederalism, libertarian municipalism, libertarian socialism, libertarianism, monoculture, mutualism, naturalism, neoliberalism, neo-Luddism, participatory democracy, permaculture, polyculture, populism, post- Fordism, primitivism, renewable energy, representative democracy, self-management, social anarchism, socialism, social ecology, sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable democracy, unions, workers’ councils Contents 1. Introduction: Left-Libertarian Ecopolitics and the Issue of Ecological Sustainability 2. The Anarcho-individualist Bioregionalism of Kirkpatrick Sale 3. The Anarchocommunist Libertarian Municipalism of Murray Bookchin 4. The Anarchosyndicalist Ecoregionalism of Graham Purchase 5. Conclusion: The Relevance of Left-Libertarian Ecopolitics in an Era of Post-Fordist
    [Show full text]
  • Stateless Environmentalism: the Criticism of State by Eco-Anarchist Perspectives
    Stateless Environmentalism: The Criticism of State by Eco-Anarchist Perspectives Francisco J. Toro Departamento de Geografía Humana, Universidad de Granada [email protected] Abstract The State and its governmental institutions have been dignified in the environmentalist mainstream as palliative forces to face and solve the excesses and failures of capitalism and neoliberalism towards a proper environmental management. But this environmental state falls into evident contradictions regards to its formal commitment with environmentalist purposes. In addition, governmental institutions contribute to expand a nihilist attitude in the environmentalist actions of the citizenship. Within the environmentalist strands of anarchism, the matter of State has focused a relevant attention and position. An early green criticism may be found in the nineteenth century anarchists, in which State has no room as a violent and centralized force, and corrupting the goodness of the material, reproductive and spiritual connection of humans with Nature. Most recent eco-anarchist approaches, such as social ecologists, bioregionalists and anarcho-primitivists have analysed how determinant is State as a responsible agent in the global environmental crisis and proposed alternatives to this coercive power. This paper is aiming a) to examine some of the main contributions of the “green” criticism to State from eco-anarchists; and b) to build a consistent and wide critique of the State, helping to promote a non-statist balanced and fair relationship between societies and Nature. Keywords Eco-anarchism; environmental state; environmentalism; bioregionalism; social ecology; anarcho- primitivism Published with Creative Commons licence: Attribution–Noncommercial–No Derivatives Stateless Environmentalism 190 Introduction: The Environmental State, a Suspicious Legitimation? The State and governmental institutions have reached a determinant role in the environmental arena.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards a Democratic Liberatory Ethics: a Restatement, TAKIS FOTOPOULOS
    Towards a Democratic Liberatory Ethics: A restatement, TAKIS FOTOPOULOS The International Journal of INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Winter 2010) Towards a Democratic Liberatory Ethics: A [1] restatement TAKIS FOTOPOULOS In this article, I will try, first, to critically assess the approaches to liberatory ethics particularly those developed in early modernity, which aimed at deriving an “objectively” grounded liberatory ethics, second, to explore the reasons why today’s liberatory ethics should avoid both the Scylla of “objective” ethics as well as the Charybdis of irrationalist ethics or unbounded moral relativism and, finally, to show that a democratic liberatory ethics, which could only be derived through a process of democratic rationalism, should necessarily express those moral values which are intrinsically compatible to the democratic institutions themselves. Introduction: What is liberatory ethics? A good starting point in discussing liberatory ethics is to attempt to define it. We may define liberatory ethics as those approaches to ethics [2] proposed by radical theorists of the “antisystemic” Left, [3] which aim to assess —from a radical viewpoint explicitly challenging the present form of socio-economic organisation based on the market economy and representative “democracy”— the ethics of various societies in the past and present and suggest the normative ethics of a future liberatory society. As such, liberatory ethics is a branch of moral philosophy, an alternative ethics to “orthodox” moral philosophy, i.e. those approaches to ethics proposed by theorists who, explicitly or implicitly, take for granted the socio-economic system and the set of values justifying it. But, before we begin our investigation on the various approaches to liberatory ethics it may be useful to see the main divisions within this field.
    [Show full text]