Earth System Governance conference (Utrecht 2018) - abstracts for panels on democracy

[Jonathan.Pickering]

Dear colleagues (apologies for cross-postings),

 

The next Earth System Governance conference will be held in Utrecht, 5-8 Nov 2018 (see http://www.earthsystemgovernance.net/utrecht2018/call-for-papers/). Karin Bäckstrand, David Schlosberg and I are planning two panels on democracy in Earth system governance (see blurbs below) and we’re getting in touch to see if you’d like to submit an abstract or serve as a discussant or chair.

 

If you’re interested in participating, please send me your abstract by Wednesday 14 March (and let me know which of the panels you’d like to join) so that we have time to sort out the panel line-up (the conference organisers’ deadline for abstracts and panels is 19 March). Abstracts should be up to 400 words, and further details are in the call for papers linked above.

 

Finally, if you’d like to join or find out more about the Earth System Governance Project’s working group on ecological democracy, there’s further info here: http://www.earthsystemgovernance.net/conceptual-foundations/?page_id=184.

 

Thanks very much and please get in touch if you have any queries.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jonathan Pickering

 

 

Panel 1. Democracy in Earth System Governance: Broadening the Conversation

 

Co-convenors: Jonathan Pickering (University of Canberra) and Karin Bäckstrand (Stockholm University)

 

Debates about democracy in Earth system governance extend well beyond the question of whether global democracy is possible or desirable. Democratic institutions at national and subnational levels already have a pervasive influence on how planetary risks are governed, and the spread of civil society participation across multilateral environmental regimes suggests hints of democratisation at the global level. Yet it is equally apparent that most existing democratic institutions have struggled to summon the political will to confront risks to the Earth system.

 

Over recent decades a body of research on ecological democracy has grappled with the question of whether democratic processes can be reconciled with environmental protection. But issues of democracy in Earth system governance arise well beyond this literature, extending to work on transparency, accountability, legitimacy, participation, inclusion, power, representation, deliberation, social movements and beyond. Moreover, theoretical work on ecological democracy has often relied on a limited base of empirical evidence, and much more could be done to bring the theory and practice of democracy in Earth system governance into closer dialogue. This panel aims to explore whether and how these bodies of work speak to a common set of democratic concerns, and how stronger links could be built across those areas.

 

 

Panel 2. Globalising ecological democracy

 

Co-convenors: Jonathan Pickering (University of Canberra) and David Schlosberg (University of Sydney)

 

While debates about the prospects of ecological (or green/environmental) democracy have unfolded over several decades, understanding of what global ecological democracy might look and how it could be achieved remains limited. Thus while global environmental summits have often embraced widespread civil society participation, other potential forms of democratization (including expanding citizen deliberation at the global level, and fostering greater engagement between citizens and experts at the global science-policy interface) remain under-developed. Meanwhile, social movements committed to environmental transformation (including the fossil fuel divestment movement and the transition towns initiative) have proliferated and often diffused internationally, yet it remains unclear whether and how movements such as these could help to bring about democratic change at a systemic level.

 

This panel aims to present new findings on the concept and processes of globalizing ecological democracy, focusing on two main areas: global environmental institutions (such as the UN regimes on climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development) and transnational social movements. We welcome abstracts from a range of methodological standpoints engaging with questions such as:

 

- What kinds of understandings of democracy are held and practiced by global environmental institutions and transnational environmental movements?

- What kinds of innovations in policies, norms and practices are most promising for globalizing ecological democracy?

- How can practices of local ecological democracy, such as food systems or community energy, be replicated, networked, or scaled to the global?

- What implications does the Anthropocene have for the desirability and feasibility of global ecological democracy and the institutional forms it should take?

 

 

Jonathan Pickering

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance

Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis

Building 23 Level B |University of Canberra | ACT 2601, Australia
T +61 2 6201 2463| M +61 400 626 201 |W deldem.canberra.edu.au | @UCIGPA   @jrpickering