Extinction Rebellion: Green activism and the fantasy of leaderlessness in a decentralized movement

Abstract

This article interrogates the idea of leadership in a decentralized organization, using Extinction Rebellion (XR) as a case study. Through close observation of this environmental movement, we problematize the notion of leaderless organizations and question whether the idea of a hierarchy- and power-free ‘decentralized organization’ is a fantasmatic endeavour. Psychoanalytic analysis of discussions between XR members following two disruptive actions during XR’s International Rebellion in October 2019 reveals that these actions temporarily provoked members to question the attainability and effectiveness of XR’s so-called ‘leaderless autonomous organization’. This article contributes to psychoanalytic studies of leadership and to the social movements literature and argues that the power relations present in any form of organized endeavour must be recognized in order to develop effective and democratic activism.

Twitter as a leadership actor — A communication as constitutive of organizing perspective on a ‘leaderless’ social movement

“…In officers’ accounts of what leadership meant, however, they sidelined the contributions of nonhuman actors and simply reproduced “citations of normative value and assumptions” that reified the notion of a stereotypical masculine leader (Hawkins, 2015 p. 959). Just as the romanticized notion of the heroic leader (Meindl et al, 1985) is widespread and persistent in organizations (Collinson et al, 2018; Hawkins, 2015; Salovaara and Bathurst, 2017), so too has the narrative of leaderless-ness distracted movement participants from recognizing true movement dynamics (Eslen-Ziya and Erhart, 2015; Fotaki and Foroughi, 2021; Western, 2014).…”

“…Fantasies have a positive purpose because they allow us to envision an alternative, yet persisting in believing the leaderless fantasy and perpetuating it has two important consequences: not only does it produce generative tensions within movements, it also blinds activists from recognizing the inherent power dynamics as well as the conflicts within social movements (Fotaki and Foroughi, 2021; Western, 2014). Fotaki and Foroughi (2021) said, “leaderlessness is an aspirational idea,” yet accepting this idea as truth makes it impossible for social-movement participants to establish and accept more “leaderfull” organizational practices that can advance a movement’s aims (Fotaki and Foroughi, 2021: pp. 15–16; Western, 2014).…”

“…As discussed above, leadership is a relational process (Alvesson and Spicer, 2012; Brower et al, 2000; Cunliffe and Eriksen, 2011; Denis et al, 2012; Edwards, 2011; Raelin, 2016a; Uhl-Bien, 2006) in which the work done to give organizational direction (Crevani, 2018) is distributed in practice (Raelin, 2016b). When activists discard the fantasy of leaderless-ness and acknowledge that they are in fact “leaderfull” (Fotaki and Foroughi, 2021), they may be better able to utilize the modes of representation that platform technologies provide, and thus more creatively and productively set and achieve movement goals.…”

“…To explore the notion of leaderlessness, we draw on critical leadership research that departs from the mainstream understanding of leadership, which sees it as the embodiment of authority within institutional and organizational settings. Instead, we assert that precarious forms of social collectives such as social movements may be leaderless, but they are not leadership-less (Fotaki and Foroughi, 2021; Sutherland et al, 2014). We investigated movement leadership dynamics in the platform environment of contentious politics and argue that leadership is not limited to individual leaders, but is instead a relational process with “far-reaching influence” on people’s “values, ideals, aspirations, emotions and identities” (Alvesson and Spicer, 2012: p. 384).…”

Tornar-se um ativista do clima

“…L'image d'XR comme ouvert à tous, quel que soit leur milieu social et leur politisation, est donc une utopie. Des stratégies tacites de distinction sont à l'oeuvre dans l'organisation militante qui se veut par nature horizontale et sans leader (Fotaki & Foroughi, 2022). L'engagement dans des actions politiques non violentes est plus attrayant pour une élite culturelle et sociale.…”