Embracing Non-Human Nature in World Politics
What are the implications of seeing world politics within the Earth system?
By Joana Castro Pereira and André Saramago
With the recently published book, Non-Human Nature in World Politics, we seek to promote a gathering space for contributions that think the discipline of International Relations beyond the anthropocentric frameworks that have hitherto shaped the majority of not only academic approaches to the study of world politics, but also environmental policy at all levels of governance. It is a book that places at the centre of analysis the recognition that ‘humans have become a planetary force’. One that is ‘dangerously changing the climate and eroding the planet’s life-support systems’.
A post-anthropocentric perspective cannot be conceived of as simply another academic ‘turn’ in the discipline of International Relations that makes non-human nature the main topic of scientific research or that conceives of it as simply an add-on to be attached to analyses of world politics as a separate section on an academic paper.
Under these conditions, anthropocentric frameworks are no longer tenable. Their assumption that non-human nature simply constitutes the inert background of human dramas and that human beings are somehow separated from non-human nature and immune to the degradation of its ecosystems is being profoundly contradicted by the ecological crisis currently facing all species on the planet and the evidence that the continued survival and the sustainability of complex human societies ultimately depends on the stability of the Earth system. Rather, a post-anthropocentric perspective is required, one that recognizes humanity’s embeddedness in the Earth system, but also its predominant role in driving ecological change at the planetary level. Such a perspective opens the way for a more adequate understanding of the inescapable intertwinement between human activity and non-human nature and how all forms of harm and violence inflicted upon the later ultimately also have consequences for human beings and their societies. It implies the recognition that if humanity is to create a ‘safe operating space’, ‘policies must be guided by ontological, ethical and moral principles that ensure a fair sharing of the Earth between humans and non-humans’.
Fundamental here is the argument that a post-anthropocentric perspective cannot be conceived of as simply another academic ‘turn’ in the discipline of International Relations that makes non-human nature the main topic of scientific research or that conceives of it as simply an add-on to be attached to analyses of world politics as a separate section on an academic paper. Rather, a post-anthropocentric perspective seeks to capture the permanent role that non-human nature plays in human affairs, and vice-versa, integrating human/non-human nature relations in all analysis of world politics in ways that capture their inherent intertwinement with the Earth system.
A post-anthropocentric perspective will remain an abstraction if conceived of purely from a theoretical perspective. To be effective in reorientating human activity towards more sustainable practices, a post-anthropocentric perspective must also inform empirical studies about world politics and policy decision-making.
The book gathers contributions from scholars working in International Relations and associated fields, ranging from Sociology, to Political Science and Philosophy, that, in various ways, seek to develop such a post-anthropocentric perspective. It is divided into two parts: theory and practice. This division reflects the recognition that a post-anthropocentric perspective requires an ontological reconceptualization of world politics and the development of theoretical frameworks that overcome the separateness between ‘humanity’ and ‘nature’ characterizing the majority of intellectual thinking in the social sciences. Concomitantly, it also requires a consideration of the ethical, moral and political implications of conceiving the embeddedness of world politics in the Earth system. The first part of the book is thus dedicated to developing theoretical frameworks, inspired by various approaches ranging from post-humanism, new materialism, ecomodernism, post-colonialism and process sociology to post-structuralism, that share the commitment to move beyond an anthropocentric perspective on world politics. Contributions include chapters on conceptualizing the development of global ecological democratic institutions; on quantum social theory and how it can inform conceptualizations of the Anthropocene, the planet’s new geological epoch; on the agency of non-human nature; on environmental governance regimes; on the contrasts between traditional and ecomodernist environmentalism and on the sociological and psychological implications of the development of ecological forms of consciousness in the context of the Anthropocene.
However, a post-anthropocentric perspective will remain an abstraction if conceived of purely from a theoretical perspective. To be effective in reorientating human activity towards more sustainable practices, a post-anthropocentric perspective must also inform empirical studies about world politics and policy decision-making. The second part of the book is thus dedicated to a series of empirical studies that share the commitment to frame their analyses of various aspects of world politics in a post-anthropocentric perspective. These permit understanding the role of several key state and non-state actors and international organizations in contributing to, or ameliorating, climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation; they also allow for a contextualization of the Anthropocene concept, which has been criticized for being framed in an abstract, too global and monolithic way. Contributions include chapters on pre- and post-colonial Indonesia; China’s concept of ecological civilization; the European Union’s record on environmental action at both domestic and international levels; the role of NGOs in promoting ecological sustainability; and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Hopefully, this book will constitute a steppingstone to further advance the discussion on the development of a post-anthropocentric perspective on world politics. A perspective that permits a more adequate understanding of the embeddedness of human activity in non-human nature and of how human beings might better orientate themselves towards their contemporary conditions of existence in ways that help them learn how to more consciously control their activity and its potentially harmful effects. On such a development depends not only the future survival of complex human societies, but also that of many non-human Earthly species with which human beings share the planet.
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