Post-politics and the Anthropocene: towards a post-foundational environmental political theory

Abstract

The concept of post-politics has played a key role in diagnosing Anthropocene discourse and showing how it has reinforced the managerial, technocratic, and market logics of much environmental politics. From the homogenising and naturalising discourse of humankind as a destructive species to the fetishisation of CO2 in carbon offsetting projects and the strategic mobilisation of emergency narratives: all partake in the depoliticisation of the environmental debate. Yet, the diagnosis has also been criticised for not giving enough leverage to alternative voices and for restricting the scope of what ‘proper’ political action can consist of. In this chapter, I show how a re-engagement with the sophisticated theoretical underpinnings of post-foundational political theory can provide us with the tools to move beyond these controversies. While defending the post-political thesis, I argue that a genuine post-foundational engagement with the Anthropocene should also recognise the altered, much more politicised historical conjuncture in which we live today.