- ISSN: 0167-2444
- E-ISSN: 2949-8651
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oa Klimaatactivisme representeert meer dan dat het kan vertegenwoordigen
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Filosofie & Praktijk, Volume 44, Issue 3/4, Dec 2023, p. 367 - 379
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- 01 Dec 2023
Abstract
This article examines the strained relationship between climate activism in the form of civil disobedience and the democratic governments it intends to hold accountable. Climate activism often involves lawbreaking to draw attention to the looming climate crisis. Yet, in a democracy there are institutions and procedures that ensure democratic participation, on the basis of which some question the validity of such civil disobedience. Particularly because democratic government is typically understood to be representing ‘the people’ and ‘the common good’. From a constructivist perspective on political representation, this article argues that there are valuable political representatives that operate outside the currently established formal institutions of representation. In defense of climate activism it thus holds that protests of civil disobedience are also capable of representing pressing political issues and demands, and even that they are sometimes better able to do so than parliamentary politics.
