Democracy and democratisation

Hammond, Marit

Abstract

Amidst numerous high-profile citizens' assemblies on climate change, the role of democracy in (critical) environmental politics is receiving renewed attention. In this chapter, I argue democratisation rightly has a long pedigree in environmental politics, for the liberal state is structurally inhibited from overcoming human domination over non-human nature and prioritising sustainability over the capitalist growth imperative. Critical challenge of the fundamental causes of environmental unsustainability must therefore emanate from interventions outside of its institutional processes: the citizen voice beyond already established and incorporated 'stakeholders'. The literature on democratic environmental politics has evolved from supplementing liberal democracy with innovations in participatory, stakeholder and network forms of governance to calling for altogether different models of democracy such as deliberative and agonist forms. While these developments have brought forth important critical engagement with environmental politics in the liberal status quo, all of them also remain themselves constrained by this overarching institutional context.

• Online Publication Date: Oct 25, 2022
• Publication Date: Oct 25, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jul 11, 2023
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Pages: 333-346
• Book Title: Handbook of Critical Environmental Politics
• Chapter Number: 24
• ISBN: 9781839100673; 9781839100666; 9781839100673
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781839100673.00033
• Publisher URL: https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781839100673/book-part-9781839100673-33.xml