Climate Change and the Adaptation of the Political

Abstract

In the face of climate change, along what path might we attempt transformation that could create a just and livable planet? Recently we proposed a framework for anticipating the possible political-economic forms that might emerge as the world's climate changes. Our framework outlines four possible paths; two of those paths are defined by what is called "Leviathan," the emergence of a form of planetary sovereignty. In this article we elaborate by examining the adaptive character of emergent planetary sovereignty. To grasp this, we need a theory that can see through our ostensibly "postpolitical" moment to grasp not the disintegration but the adaptation of the political. What does it mean to say the political adapts? Reduced to its essence, it is to say that if the character of political life prevents a radical response to crisis, then it is the political that must change. A materialist attempt to elaborate on this question must begin by reflecting on the manifest inequalities of power in the current mode of global political-economic regulation. After doing so, we conclude by arguing for a return to the concept of natural history.Frente a la realidad del cambio clim atico, ¿de qu e manera podr ıamos intentar la transformaci on que pudiese crear un planeta justo y habitable? Hace poco propusimos un marco que anticipara las formas pol ıtico-econ omicas que podr an aparecer a medida que cambie el clima del mundo. Nuestro marco de predicci on esboza cuatro posibilidades; dos de estas se definen como "Leviatanes," la emergencia de una forma de soberan ıa planetaria. En el art ıculo nos extendemos un poco examinando el car acter adaptativo de la emergente soberan ıa planetaria. Para captar esto, necesitamos una teor ıa que pueda ver a trav es de nuestro momento ostensiblemente "pospol ıtico" que opte no por la desintegraci on de lo pol ıtico sino por su adaptaci on. ¿Qu e se quiere decir con que lo pol ıtico se adapte? Concentr andonos en lo esencial, se quiere decir que si el car acter de la vida pol ıtica previene una respuesta radical a la crisis, entonces lo pol ıtico es lo que debe cambiar. Un intento materialista de elaborar alrededor de esta cuesti on debe empezar reflexionando sobre las manifiestas desigualdades de poder en el modo actual de la regulaci on global pol ıtico-econ omica. Despu es de hecho lo anterior, concluimos abogando por un regreso al concepto de historia natural. Palabras clave: cambio clim atico, futuros, pol ıtico, teor ıa, soberan ıa.

Premediation and white affect: climate change and migration in critical perspective

“…In a recent, important sequel to ‘Climate leviathan’, Joel Wainwright and Geoff Mann (, 315) argue for a reinvigorated concept of the political adequate to the political economies of climate change adaptation. Such a concept should not be confused with ‘a particular condition or set of institutions’, but should instead be conceived as ‘the grounds on which the relationship between dominant and dominated takes form’.…”

“…But such a view narrowly conceives of race as something that can be read off skin, or ethnicity, or even the world map, as opposed to say an epistemological orientation, a framework of meaning, a habit of perception or a social process. It risks orienting us to the phenomenon of climate change through the lens of white saviourism, when what is required is much closer attention to the way in which race is being rescripted at this transitional moment in our ‘natural history’ (Wainwright and Mann ). ‘Race’ is, after all, a prominent, if nowadays mostly invisible, term of reference in the construction of geographical knowledge (Kobayashi ).…”

“…But why, as seems to be implied by the Foresight Report , must the future be so constrained? Can a future of human mobility not also be affirmed as the productive ‘ground’ from which to reimagine new forms of political subjectivity, or new forms of political solidarity (Wainwright and Mann , 315)? Is it not also an opportunity to pose new questions about what it means to be ‘human’ or how to live in the world?…”

“…I offer ‘white affect’ as a concept that can help us identify the presence of race in a discourse that otherwise renders race invisible. The paper concludes with some reflections on how the argument relates to wider discussions about climate change and the political (Wainwright and Mann ), climate justice and the politics of geographic knowledge.…”

Imagining socioecological transformation: An analysis of the Welsh Government’s policy innovations and orientations to the future

“…The term "socioecological transformation" is increasingly used to signify the kinds of wholesale changes-in thinking and practices-that are deemed necessary to address some of the most pressing environmental challenges of the 21 st Century (see, for example, Braun, 2015;Hawkins et al, 2015;Wainwright and Mann, 2015). As a concept it attempts to understand social and ecological realms as thoroughly interconnected, and the world as constantly changing and in flux, marked by non-equilibrium and complexity (Zimmerer, 1994).…”