Democratic Futures and Sustainable Possibilism

Abstract

Current times are characterized by two apparently unrelated yet strongly interdependent crises: the authocratization wave and the ecological crisis. While an ever-growing number of democratic innovations and new participatory spaces have attempted to respond to the challenges of established forms of democratic governance, and the ongoing ecological crisis has steered new policies for environmental protection and climate change mitigation worldwide, efforts seem to be insufficient. As crises always demand a non-linearity of time in which the future breaks into the present, this panel sets out to investigate the democratic potential of imagining democratic and sustainable futures in order to react to this double crisis. We believe that the key to the future of democratic, just, and sustainable societies lies in understanding how democratic innovations and participatory spaces can contribute to dealing with ecological challenges. As democratic futures depend on meeting achievable yet ambitious goals towards sustainability, we ask: what would a green democracy look like and how can participatory politics lead to democratic futures and sustainable possibilism?

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