Domination, power, supremacy: Confronting anthropolitics with ecological realism

27Citations
Citations of this article
58Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

In this article, we study politics as domination. From our point of view, domination, especially in the Anthropocene, has had two vital components-power and supremacy. In order to dominate, one has to have power over others. In addition, the politics of domination, such as colonial oppression of Latin America, has required reasoning, justification, and legitimation, often connected to superiority (because of religion, society, or civilization) from the oppressor's end. Past and present political ideologies and programs, such as colonialism, imperialism, but also welfare state capitalism, neoliberalism and increasingly popular Green New Deal are examples of what we call "anthropolitics", an anthropocentric approach to politics based on domination, power, and supremacist exploitation. In contrast to the prevailing anthropolitics, this article discusses post-Anthropocene politics, characterized by localization and decentralization, as well as a steep reduction of matter-energy throughput by introducing a theoretical frame called ecological realism.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Ruuska, T., Heikkurinen, P., & Wilén, K. (2020). Domination, power, supremacy: Confronting anthropolitics with ecological realism. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/su12072617

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free