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Winner of the 2019 Clay Morgan Award Committee for Best Book in Environmental Political Theory

The Politics of the Anthropocene

John S. Dryzek and Jonathan Pickering

The most sophisticated treatment of the political implications of the Anthropocene to date
Shows how and why dominant institutions such as states and governments became unfit for purpose
Multi-disciplinary in its approach, from political science, international relations, philosophy, environmental studies, law and related fields

Winner of the 2019 Clay Morgan Award Committee for Best Book in Environmental Political Theory

The Politics of the Anthropocene

John S. Dryzek and Jonathan Pickering

Description

The Politics of the Anthropocene is a sophisticated yet accessible treatment of how human institutions, practices, and principles need to be re-thought in response to the challenges of the Anthropocene, the emerging epoch of human-induced instability in the Earth system and its life-support capacities. However, the world remains stuck with practices and modes of thinking that were developed in the Holocene - the epoch of around 12,000 years of unusual stability in the Earth system, toward the end of which modern institutions such as states and capitalist markets arose. These institutions persist despite their potentially catastrophic failure to respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene, foremost among them a rapidly changing climate and accelerating biodiversity loss. The pathological trajectories of these institutions need to be disrupted by advancing ecological reflexivity: the capacity of structures, systems, and sets of ideas to question their own core commitments, and if necessary change themselves, while listening and responding effectively to signals from the Earth system.

This book envisages a world in which humans are no longer estranged from the Earth system but engage with it in a more productive relationship. We can still pursue democracy, social justice, and sustainability - but not as before. In future, all politics should be first and foremost a politics of the Anthropocene. The arguments are developed in the context of issues such as climate change, biodiversity, and global efforts to address sustainability.

Winner of the 2019 Clay Morgan Award Committee for Best Book in Environmental Political Theory

The Politics of the Anthropocene

John S. Dryzek and Jonathan Pickering

The Politics of the Anthropocene

John S. Dryzek and Jonathan Pickering

Author Information

John S. Dryzek, Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Centenary Professor Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, and Jonathan Pickering, Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra

John S. Dryzek is Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Centenary Professor in the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra. He is best known for his contributions in democratic theory and practice and environmental politics. He is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy (2018) and The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society (2011), and the author of many books, including The Politics of the Earth (3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 2013).

Jonathan Pickering is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra. His research focuses on global environmental governance, climate ethics and policy, and deliberative democracy. His research has been published in a range of journals including Climate Policy, Ecological Economics, Global Environmental Politics, International Environmental Agreements, and World Development.

Winner of the 2019 Clay Morgan Award Committee for Best Book in Environmental Political Theory

The Politics of the Anthropocene

John S. Dryzek and Jonathan Pickering

Reviews and Awards

"The book is persuasive and beautifull written, bringing forth a realistic and optimistic account of how humanscan reorganize themselves to better govern in the emerging epochPerhaps most importantly, the book offers hope that human reason and communication with one another and with the Earth system can rise to the challenges of the Anthropocene." - Jen Iris Allan, Cardiff Unviersity, EIA

"This is a salutatory warning for social scientists who study international institutions and the United Nations system, but one that needs to be taken seriously especially when it runs against the overwhelming impetus to be "policy relevant" to generate solutions to what are presented as solvable "problems". The Anthropocene requires more fundamental thinking, and as such this volume is a useful antidote to technocratic assumptions that there are simple solutions to issues that are better coped with reflexively as sets of interconnected complicated changing circumstances." - Simon Dalby, Wilfrid Laurier University, Academic Council on the United Nations System

Winner of the 2019 Clay Morgan Award Committee for Best Book in Environmental Political Theory

The Politics of the Anthropocene

John S. Dryzek and Jonathan Pickering

From Our Blog

A new geological epoch demands a new politics

Young people have become increasingly vocal in castigating older generations for their failure to act on climate change. University students are at the forefront of campaigns to divest from fossil fuels. A group of 21 young Americans launched a high-profile court case against the US government to pursue a legal right to a stable climate.

Posted on January 8, 2019

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