Course Syllabus

Course Description

Across the globe, climate change and its geopolitical implications – scarcity of resources, growing inequality, mass migration – are disrupting faith in conventional representative democracy, giving rise to a broad range of anti-establishment political and ecological movements. Not only have broad civic protest movements such as Extinction Rebellion emerged, but a whole range of Far Left and far Right groups, voices, and experiments have come to the fore. On the radical Left, distinctive organisations such as Ende Gelände or more loosely tied 'eco-Marxist' voices, initiates and networks. And on the political Right, a whole range of ‘green’ organisations and communities: Traditionalist, localist, conservationist, ethno-conservative or right out eco-fascist. Beyond conventional party politics in other words, a bottom-up struggle over 'nature' and its relationship to borders, culture, identity, and society is unfolding: From anti-modernist movements, that hope to ‘turn back’ the forces of industrial globalization and retreat into nature and the local, to techno-futurist forces, that reach for radical new technologies – AI, transhumanism, the colonization of space – to provide solutions.

This course enables you to theorize, map and understand that development. We will explore the history and background of contemporary eco-politics – the many and often competing traditions and contexts from which the current ‘politization’ of nature, landscape, climate and ecology springs. We will also combine background readings, guest lectures and hands-on field trips, to identify key eco-political thinkers, groups and activists today. Furthermore, we will explore the socio-political links between social imaginaries of fear, urgency or apocalypse on the one hand, and the mobilization of radical/disruptive political action on the other. Finally, we will unpack what the emergence of both local and transnational climate movements mean for democracy, the nation-state, the rule of law and the existing world order.

Learning Objectives

The objective of this course is to provide students with in-depth understanding of how contemporary populist or ‘anti-establishment’ political movements on both the Left and the Right relate and respond to climate change. More specifically, the course will provide students with: 

• A theoretical understanding of what radical political movements are and how they relate to issues of ecology, nature and race. 
• A historical contextualization of eco-political thinkers and utopian movements in Europe and the US - and a deeper understanding of why Left and Right both historically and presently approach issues of 'nature', 'ecology', 'technology' and 'sustainability' from very different starting points.
• A geographical overview and comparison of radical eco-political ideas and movements across the US, Europe and the global South. 
• A sociological understanding of how utopian ideas and grass-roots action attract and appeal in an era of climate fear and cultural anxiety.
• A capacity to reflect upon the ethical questions involved in a politics of urgency and the mobilisation of extra-ordinary political means: From civic disobedience to sabotage, terrorism or large scale violence.
• An ability to discuss and critically reflect upon what a radicalized struggle over climate politics may mean for the existing political order.

Faculty

Vibeke Schou Tjalve

Vibeke holds a PhD (2005) from the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, with a research profile in the intersection between political theory, intellectual history, and international relations. She is the author of a very wide range of books and articles on (competing) American understandings of power, progress, democracy, technology, ecology, justice and war. Over the past couple of years, she has taken a particular interest in the radical political movements, and novel utopian visions, that climate change and looming ecological disaster has spurred on. From 2012-23, she was a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, DIIS, and prior to that, held research positions at the Center for Advanced Security Studies, KU (2009-12), the Center for Military Studies, KU (2006-2009), and the Center for American Studies, University of Southern Denmark (2005-06). She has been a visiting scholar at numerous international institutions, including the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (2001-2002), the National Defense Academy, Washington D.C. (2009), the London School of Economics (2010-11), and the Center for Right Wing Studies, Berkeley (2018, 2022). She remains an affiliate researcher at Berkeley and is a an editorial member of the Berkeley Journal for Right Wing Studies (JRWS). With DIS since 2022. 

Selected Readings

• Bailey, Dan & Joe Turner (2021): "Eco-Bordering: Casting Immigration Control as Environmental Protection", in Environmental Politics 31:1.
• Bunting, Josh & Emily Westwell (2020). “The Regenerative Culture of Extinction Rebellion: self-care, people-care, planet-care”, Environmental Politics, 29:3, pp. 546-551.
• Forchtner, Bernard (2020). The Far Right and the Environment: Politics, Discourse and Communication. London: Routledge.
• Forchtner, Bernard & Kristoffer Kølvraa (2015). “The Nature of Nationalism: Populist Radical Right Parties on Countryside and Climate”, Nature & Culture 10:2.
• Lederer, Markus & Jens Marquardt (2022): "Politicizing Climate Change in Times of Populism: an introduction", in Environmental Politics 31:5.
• Malm, Andreas (2021). White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism. London: Verso.
• Nye, David (2021): Conflicted American Landscapes. The MIT Press.
• Park, Mi (2013): "The Trouble With Eco-Localism: Too Close to the Far Right?", in Interface: a Journal for and About Social Movements5:2.
• Slaven, Mike & James Heydon (2020). “Crisis, deliberation and Extinction Rebellion”. Critical Studies on Security8:1, pp. 59-62.
• Spectorowski, Alberto (2010). “Ethno-regionalism, ethno-pluralism and the emergence of a Neo-Fascist ‘Third Way’”, Journal of Political Ideologies 8:1.
• Stone, Roger (2022). Populism, Eco-Populism and the Future of Environmentalism.
• Tutton, Richard (2021). “Societal Imaginaries of Techno-Optimism: Examining Outer Space Utopias of Silicon Valley”, Science as Culture, 30:3.
• Williams, Thomas C. (2017). “The French Origins of You Will Not Replace US: The Thinkers Behind the White-Nationalist Rallying Cry”, The New Yorker, December

Field Studies and Guest Lectures 

This is an interactive and discussion-based course. It combines teacher lectures and classroom dialogue, with student-driven case studies and scenario building. To make abstract themes tangible and engaging, we will draw in visual and audio material: art, slogans, documentaries, campaign videos and clips from speeches and rallies.

Moreover, field studies, site visits, documentaries and guest speakers will form an integral part of the course. Amongst our several excursions, we will:

• • Visit the research institution Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), where extensive studies on the political struggles surrounding climate change takes places
  • Visit the Danish eco-village Permatopia
  • Visit the Danish cinema Cinemateket and watch a screening of the documentary 'How to Blow Up a Pipeline' 
  • Engage with global South activists from the climate network Collective Against Environmental Racism. 

Approach to Teaching

This class will be interactive and driven by student participation. Students are expected to submit weekly reflection notes. I also expect all students to actively engage in discussions and will make room for occasional student presentations. The final grade will be based on the following evaluation:

A detailed description of what is expected of students in order to earn a high grade in participation and assignments will be provided in class. Guidelines and expectations for the final essay will also be thoroughly introduced in class.