Political Theory in the Anthropocene

This is a preliminary exploration of the role that political theorists might play in interdisciplinary research projects about planetary futures. As such, it is not an attempt to critically interrogate the discourse of the Anthropocene itself, nor to evaluate whether or how the Anthropocene might reshape our political theories. Instead, this analysis is informed by Castree’s reflections on the role of “environmental humanities” (Castree 2014; Castree 2015). He characterizes the Anthropocene as an always-unconventional scientific concept whose emergence reflected a desire of (some) earth system scientists to foster interdisciplinarity and public awareness. Projects are emerging (e.g., futureearth.org), and he calls for more active engagement by environmental humanists, arguing that the role they might play is distinct from empirically oriented social scientists and others who focus on the “human dimensions” of environmental change. In one sense, environmental political theorists can be appropriately folded into this call for engagement, along with historians, ethicists, literary critics, and other humanists (as suggested in: Castree et al. 2014). Yet I seek a more fine-grained analysis, exploring the distinctive questions, roles, and insights political theorists can contribute. A list might include: we are well-positioned to mediate between the “harder” environmental social scientists (including economists and scholars of global governance) and (other) environmental humanists. Political theory that emerges from the practices of social activism can offer distinctive insights. Political theorists’ capacious, yet critical, understanding of the spaces for “politics”, and nuanced engagement with concepts of representation, democracy, sovereignty, and justice, can also provide a necessary contribution and corrective.