Liberal Prepping as Apocalyptic Eco-Religion

Author(s):  
Juli Gittinger

The term “prepper” or “survivalist” has long been associated with more conservative or politically right-leaning communities who have operated at the fringe of society for decades. Since the new millennium, this hobby of preparedness has increased and, most recently, shown a rise among liberal or left-leaning communities. This essay addresses the rise in liberal prepper culture not only as a political response to right-wing politics, but as a fear heightened by the realities of climate change and its impact on humanity, thus creating an eco-religion centred on ethical and moral responsibilities, with an overall apocalyptic hue.

Author(s):  
Richard Passarelli ◽  
David Michel ◽  
William Durch

The Earth’s climate system is a global public good. Maintaining it is a collective action problem. This chapter looks at a quarter-century of efforts to understand and respond to the challenges posed by global climate change and why the collective political response, until very recently, has seemed to lag so far behind our scientific knowledge of the problem. The chapter tracks the efforts of the main global, intergovernmental process for negotiating both useful and politically acceptable responses to climate change, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, but also highlights efforts by scientific and environmental groups and, more recently, networks of sub-national governments—especially cities—and of businesses to redefine interests so as to meet the dangers of climate system disruption.


Significance Plans to invest in key areas such as innovation, digitisation and climate change are already under way, as are plans to reform the pension system. Impacts EU fiscal rules will not return until 2023 at the earliest, enabling Draghi to focus on pro-growth strategies. If Draghi becomes president, finding an alternative government may be difficult as some parties will demand early elections. While the polls have narrowed, a right-wing government remains the most plausible outcome after the next general election.


Author(s):  
Loren R. Cass

Climate politics presents difficulties for study given its interdisciplinary nature and the scientific complexities involved in climate change. Climate change politics had got its start in the mid- to late 1980s, as climate science became more and more accessible to policy makers and the general public. Yet prior to 2008, climate politics was only touched upon in major publications on international relations, with the exception of policy journals. Climate change was frequently referenced in articles on a range of topics, but it was not the primary focus of analysis. The recent years have seen an explosion in literature focusing on the topic, however. The potential for massive economic, political, and ecological dislocation from the consequences of climate change as well as from the potential policies to address the problem have since resulted in an extensive literature, with scholars addressing aspects of climate politics from every paradigm within international relations, as well as drawing on research in numerous other related disciplines. In addition, efforts to address the consequences of climate change have evoked controversial ethical and distributive justice questions that have produced an important normative literature. Overall, the literature on climate politics centers on two issues: how we can explain the international political response to climate change, as well as how the international community should respond to climate change.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 970-988
Author(s):  
Toby Miller

Why has cultural studies had little impact on right-wing populism’s assault on immigration and climate science? I suggest that this failure lies in three tendencies: first, a continued if increasingly cliché sunny optimism about the popular; second, the priority accorded to getting grants, which depoliticizes so much work; and third, an embrace of creative-industries discourse. The first tendency supposedly gives a link to our origins; the second, to legitimacy; and the third, to relevance. All render us ill-equipped to deal with contemporary and future crises.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Crawley

<p>Climate change is a problem that requires urgent attention. In most countries, large sections of the population accept that climate change is happening and that it is a serious problem. Despite this, the political response in many developed nations has so far been inadequate, and emissions continue to climb globally. Some authors have used this apparent lack of policy responsiveness to public preferences as evidence that vested interests have excessive influence over climate change policy. But this perspective does not fully account for the complexity of climate change opinion. For instance, many people who are highly concerned about climate change rank it as a low priority issue compared with issues such as the economy, healthcare and education. Moreover, some people who believe that climate change is happening and is a serious problem do not support government action to address it. </p> <p>I therefore investigate public opinion on climate change in terms of three dimensions: belief, issue salience and support for government action. Focussing on developed countries, I rely on survey data from Eurobarometer, the New Zealand Election Study and data collected as part of this research project. I investigate the nature of opinions with respect to these three dimensions and examine how opinions vary between individuals and across countries. Furthermore, I investigate the forces that shape climate opinion on these three dimensions, including external influence (such as messages from interest groups), individual characteristics (such as social and political attitudes) and country-level factors (such as country wealth). </p> <p>I find that belief is high in most developed countries, as is support for government action. However, salience is low in most countries, particularly in the less wealthy developed countries. Political orientation and other social attitudes relate positively to belief, issue salience and support for government action, although the relationships tend to be stronger for salience. By investigating the factors that shape climate opinion in different dimensions, this study contributes to knowledge of why people hold particular climate views. Moreover, my examination of the complexity of public opinion on climate change in terms of belief, issue salience and support for government action sheds light on why the political response to climate change has been ineffective in many countries.</p>


2017 ◽  
pp. 100-109
Author(s):  
A. Martynov

The article highlights the political renaissance of European right-wing populist skeptics in most countries of the European Union. These political parties to the global economic crisis in 2008, when the process of European integration was on the rise, remained on the margins of politics. The crisis of the liberal model of globalization, the influx of refugees from crisis areas of conflict in the Middle East and North Africa, increased social contradictions reanimated populist right-wing ideology. This socio-political response to this reality has pushed the popularity of far-right nationalist political forces in most Central European countries. In terms of ideology classification of these political forces are represented as populists “left” orientation (the French “National Front”) and “right” populists (the party “Alternative for Germany”). This fact confirms the erosion of traditional ideological markers in politics and the crisis of determining its strategy and tactics.


Author(s):  
Garrett Cullity

What are our moral responsibilities as consumers? The morally relevant reasons you have not to buy something may be participatory reasons, which you possess as an actual or potential member of some group, or individual reasons, which are not possessed in that way. Individual reasons are generated through the direct application of concern- and respect-derived norms to your actions as an individual consumer; participatory reasons, from norms of cooperation. Various distinguishable reasons of these two broad types can be derived in different ways from the foundations of morality. The importance of these distinctions is illustrated by applying them to three important kinds of consumption activity: retail purchases, share ownership, and the actions through which we contribute to climate change.


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