Bridges, Walls, Doors : On Democracy and Nature
Andersson, Rickard LU
(2021)
In Lund Political Studies
- Abstract
- The concept of green democracy has been advanced in green political theory as a way to include the natural world in the political and, by that, overcome an alleged wall, a fundamental disunity, separating humans and nature in modernity and substitute it with a unity of identity that would bridge the gap between them. It has also been vested with the coupled power to transform society in a sustainable direction. This study argues that green democracy disqualifies the concept of democracy it adopts and that, instead of bringing humans and nature together in a unity of identity, it reproduces a relation between them according to which they form a unity of difference, a relation where they are connected as if being the inside and outside of a... (More)
- The concept of green democracy has been advanced in green political theory as a way to include the natural world in the political and, by that, overcome an alleged wall, a fundamental disunity, separating humans and nature in modernity and substitute it with a unity of identity that would bridge the gap between them. It has also been vested with the coupled power to transform society in a sustainable direction. This study argues that green democracy disqualifies the concept of democracy it adopts and that, instead of bringing humans and nature together in a unity of identity, it reproduces a relation between them according to which they form a unity of difference, a relation where they are connected as if being the inside and outside of a door. Through a historical analysis of medieval, early modern, and modern modes of Western thought, it is shown that modernity does not wall humans off from nature but instead relates them in such a unity of difference and that this particular relation is fundamental for the modern concept of democracy in general, which is shown to have the same meaning as democracy has in the concept of green democracy. A tendency within the modern concept of democracy to disqualify itself is also delineated. The analysis suggests that the conceptualisation of green democracy in green political theory reproduces a unity of difference between humans and nature because it adopts a modern concept of democracy presupposing such a relation, and that it disqualifies its own concept of democracy because modern democracy tends to disqualify itself. Also, this tendency, it is argued, is exacerbated in green democracy. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Begreppet grön demokrati har förts fram inom grön politisk teori som ett sätt att inkludera den naturliga världen i den politiska och på så vis komma förbi en föreställd mur som separerar människor och natur i moderniteten och ersätta den med en brygga mellan dem. Begreppet tänks också härbärgera kraften att omvandla samhället i hållbar riktning. I denna studie argumenteras att grön demokrati diskvalificerar sitt eget demokratibegrepp och att det i stället för att föra samman människor och natur i en helhet reproducerar en annan relation mellan dem. Enligt den relationen förhåller sig människor och natur till varandra som om de vore innanför och utanför en dörr. De är inte fullt ut separerade som om det vore en mur mellan dem men inte... (More)
- Begreppet grön demokrati har förts fram inom grön politisk teori som ett sätt att inkludera den naturliga världen i den politiska och på så vis komma förbi en föreställd mur som separerar människor och natur i moderniteten och ersätta den med en brygga mellan dem. Begreppet tänks också härbärgera kraften att omvandla samhället i hållbar riktning. I denna studie argumenteras att grön demokrati diskvalificerar sitt eget demokratibegrepp och att det i stället för att föra samman människor och natur i en helhet reproducerar en annan relation mellan dem. Enligt den relationen förhåller sig människor och natur till varandra som om de vore innanför och utanför en dörr. De är inte fullt ut separerade som om det vore en mur mellan dem men inte heller sammanförda i en gemensam helhet och likhet. I stället hör de ihop men är fortfarande i grunden olika varandra. Utifrån en historisk analys av det medeltida, tidigmoderna och moderna västerländska sättet att tänka visas det i studien att moderniteten inte friställer människorna från naturen genom att resa en mur mellan dem utan snarare för dem samman i en relation enligt vilken de i grunden är olika varandra. De moderna människorna står alltså redan i relation till naturen som en dörrens insida medan naturen är dess utsida. Analysen visar också att den relationen är begreppsligt fundamental för det moderna demokratibegreppet, vars innebörd är densamma som demokrati har i begreppet grön demokrati. Vidare identifieras en inneboende tendens i det moderna demokratibegreppet att diskvalificera sig självt. Således pekar analysen på att begreppet grön demokrati reproducerar en viss relation mellan människor och natur för att det anammar ett modernt demokratibegrepp som förutsätter just den relationen samt att det diskvalificerar sitt demokratibegrepp för att det i det moderna demokratibegreppet återfinns samma tendens. Enligt argumentationen i studien, slutligen, förstärks den här tendensen i det gröna demokratibegreppet. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7174864b-06c4-43d7-ba31-9a1698635696
- author
- Andersson, Rickard
LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Eckersley, Robyn, University of Melbourne
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- human-nature relations, democracy, nature, political order, conceptual analysis, intellectual history, the Anthropocene
- in
- Lund Political Studies
- issue
- 203
- pages
- 535 pages
- publisher
- Department of Political Science, Lund University
- defense location
- Edens hörsal, Allhelgona kyrkogata 14, 223 62 Lund
- defense date
- 2021-11-19 10:15:00
- ISSN
- 0460-0037
- 0460-0037
- ISBN
- 978-91-8039-023-1
- 978-91-8039-024-8
- project
- Bridges, Walls, Doors: On Democracy and Nature
- LUCID - Lund University Centre of Excellence for Integration of Social and Natural Dimensions of Sustainability
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7174864b-06c4-43d7-ba31-9a1698635696
- date added to LUP
- 2021-10-08 19:13:13
- date last changed
- 2023-10-24 02:28:05
@phdthesis{7174864b-06c4-43d7-ba31-9a1698635696,
abstract = {{The concept of green democracy has been advanced in green political theory as a way to include the natural world in the political and, by that, overcome an alleged wall, a fundamental disunity, separating humans and nature in modernity and substitute it with a unity of identity that would bridge the gap between them. It has also been vested with the coupled power to transform society in a sustainable direction. This study argues that green democracy disqualifies the concept of democracy it adopts and that, instead of bringing humans and nature together in a unity of identity, it reproduces a relation between them according to which they form a unity of difference, a relation where they are connected as if being the inside and outside of a door. Through a historical analysis of medieval, early modern, and modern modes of Western thought, it is shown that modernity does not wall humans off from nature but instead relates them in such a unity of difference and that this particular relation is fundamental for the modern concept of democracy in general, which is shown to have the same meaning as democracy has in the concept of green democracy. A tendency within the modern concept of democracy to disqualify itself is also delineated. The analysis suggests that the conceptualisation of green democracy in green political theory reproduces a unity of difference between humans and nature because it adopts a modern concept of democracy presupposing such a relation, and that it disqualifies its own concept of democracy because modern democracy tends to disqualify itself. Also, this tendency, it is argued, is exacerbated in green democracy.}},
author = {{Andersson, Rickard}},
isbn = {{978-91-8039-023-1}},
issn = {{0460-0037}},
keywords = {{human-nature relations; democracy; nature; political order; conceptual analysis; intellectual history; the Anthropocene}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{203}},
publisher = {{Department of Political Science, Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Political Studies}},
title = {{Bridges, Walls, Doors : On Democracy and Nature}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/103503771/Andersson_Rickard_2021_Bridges_Walls_Doors.pdf}},
year = {{2021}},
}