Jonathan Pickering
Biographic Data
| ID | 3704822 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jonathan Pickering |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jonathan |
| FAMILY NAME | Pickering |
| SIGNATURE | PICKERING J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Canberra |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 76 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Process Tracing
A major challenge for empirical analysis of deliberative processes is to establish causal relationships between the context or design of these processes (e.g. access to information or the inclusion of marginalized participants) and desired outcomes (e.g. decisions that have higher epistemic or deliberative quality or are more reflective of citizens’ values). While some of these causal relationships can be tested in experimental settings or throug…
Ecological reflexivity: Characterising an elusive virtue for governance in the Anthropocene
Reflexivity – the capacity of an agent, structure or process to change in the light of reflection on its performance – has attracted widespread support among political theorists as a virtue for environmental governance. Dryzek argues that a distinctively ecological form of reflexivity becomes crucial for governing in the Anthropocene. But there remains a need to clarify the conceptual scope of ecological reflexivity and to ascertain whether it ha…
Conclusion: A practical politics of the Anthropocene
How exactly might ecological reflexivity be established as a core priority of social, economic, and political institutions? Rather than think in terms of any model to aim for, it is better to begin with where we are now and figure out positive moves on many fronts. Living frameworks—embodied in institutions that are flexible enough to respond to changing social and ecological conditions but stable enough to provide a basis for long-term flourishi…
Democratic Anthropocene
The formative sphere is the sum of activity encompassing the creation, questioning, and development of principles for collective action. This sphere gives shape to the meaning of the Anthropocene and how its implications are taken up in collective decision-making. An effective formative sphere should operate as a deliberative and ecological democracy capable of questioning its own foundations. This chapter shows how the formative sphere can opera…
Governance in the Holocene
In the late Holocene, humans and their social institutions came to endanger their planetary comfort zone. Holocene institutions have had their successes when it comes to economic prosperity and even (recently) limiting violent conflict. But change that could enable governance to grapple with Anthropocene conditions is blocked where it is most needed. Dominant institutions such as states and markets have found ways to organize feedback that confir…
Sustainability
The idea of sustainability has dominated global environmental affairs for several decades, though sustainable development has nowhere been achieved in practice. Established conceptions of sustainable development asserting that growth, justice, and environmental protection can be mutually reinforcing now need to be rethought under the more challenging circumstances of the Anthropocene. Sustainability needs to become more reflexive: more open to a …
Governance in the Anthropocene
The opposite of path dependency is reflexivity, the capacity of structures, systems, and ideas to question their own core commitments, and if necessary change themselves, not just do different things. The main requirement of governance in the Anthropocene is ecological reflexivity, which requires listening and responding effectively to signals from the Earth system, and foresight to anticipate potentially catastrophic changes. Ecological reflexiv…
Abbreviations
Copyright Page
Who will form the Anthropocene?
The Anthropocene requires remaking social structures and practices. Who can do this, giving form and meaning to values such as justice, democracy, sustainability, and conservation, thereby disrupting path dependencies in ideas? Discourse entrepreneurs are leaders and activists who can advance discourses such as that of the Anthropocene itself, or shift the balance within or across discourses (such as moral and religious ones) in an ecological dir…
Anthropocene: The good, the bad, and the inescapable
The Anthropocene is an emerging epoch in the Earth system that requires a “state shift” in the way we think. The Earth system becomes much more unstable than it was in the last 12,000 years of the Holocene. The “bad Anthropocene” is associated with scientists who have identified “planetary boundaries” that must not be transgressed: so the Anthropocene is mostly something to be fought. The “good Anthropocene” is proposed by technological optimists…
Planetary justice
Reflexivity requires the capacity to reconsider core values: notably justice, which many people think is the most important societal value. Injustice looms large in an unstable Earth system, as pre-existing injustices are intensified and new ones emerge. Against those who think that the Anthropocene overrides or ignores justice by invoking ideas of emergency or by blaming humans as a whole for our predicament, this chapter shows how justice itsel…
The Politics of the Anthropocene
The Politics of the Anthropocene is a sophisticated yet accessible treatment of how human institutions, practices, and principles need to be re-thought in response to the challenges of the Anthropocene, the emerging epoch of human-induced instability in the Earth system and its life-support capacities. However, the world remains stuck with practices and modes of thinking that were developed in the Holocene – the epoch of around 12,000 years of un…
Deliberation as a catalyst for reflexive environmental governance
On the concept of climate debt: Its moral and political value
A range of developing countries and international advocacy organizations have argued that wealthy countries, as a result of their greater historical contribution to human-induced climate change, owe a ‘climate debt’ to poor countries. Critics of this argument have claimed that it is incoherent or morally objectionable. In this essay we clarify the concept of climate debt and assess its value for conceptualizing responsibilities associated with gl…
Introductory Note
Recent developments in climate policy have done little to suggest that the world is acting quickly enough to avoid a dangerous rise in global temperatures.Despite some important steps in national policy-making-including the commencement of Australia's carbon pricing mechanism and the piloting of subnational emissions trading in China-the polarized nature of the climate debate in the United States continues to obstruct progress.Moreover, a substan…
If Equity's In, We're Out: Scope for Fairness in the Next Global Climate Agreement
At the United Nations climate change conference in 2011, parties decided to launch the "Durban Platform" to work towards a new long-term climate agreement. The decision was notable for the absence of any reference to "equity," a prominent principle in all previous major climate agreements. Wealthy countries resisted the inclusion of equity on the grounds that the term had become too closely yoked to developing countries' favored conception of equ…
The Politics of the Anthropocene
The Politics of the Anthropocene is a sophisticated yet accessible treatment of how human institutions, practices, and principles need to be re-thought in response to the challenges of the Anthropocene, the emerging epoch of human-induced instability in the Earth system and its life-support capacities. However, the world remains stuck with practices and modes of thinking that were developed in the Holocene – the epoch of around 12,000 years of un…
If Equity's In, We're Out: Scope for Fairness in the Next Global Climate Agreement
At the United Nations climate change conference in 2011, parties decided to launch the "Durban Platform" to work towards a new long-term climate agreement. The decision was notable for the absence of any reference to "equity," a prominent principle in all previous major climate agreements. Wealthy countries resisted the inclusion of equity on the grounds that the term had become too closely yoked to developing countries' favored conception of equ…
On the concept of climate debt: Its moral and political value
A range of developing countries and international advocacy organizations have argued that wealthy countries, as a result of their greater historical contribution to human-induced climate change, owe a ‘climate debt’ to poor countries. Critics of this argument have claimed that it is incoherent or morally objectionable. In this essay we clarify the concept of climate debt and assess its value for conceptualizing responsibilities associated with gl…
Ecological reflexivity: Characterising an elusive virtue for governance in the Anthropocene
Reflexivity – the capacity of an agent, structure or process to change in the light of reflection on its performance – has attracted widespread support among political theorists as a virtue for environmental governance. Dryzek argues that a distinctively ecological form of reflexivity becomes crucial for governing in the Anthropocene. But there remains a need to clarify the conceptual scope of ecological reflexivity and to ascertain whether it ha…
On the concept of climate debt: Its moral and political value
A range of developing countries and international advocacy organizations have argued that wealthy countries, as a result of their greater historical contribution to human-induced climate change, owe a ‘climate debt’ to poor countries. Critics of this argument have claimed that it is incoherent or morally objectionable. In this essay we clarify the concept of climate debt and assess its value for conceptualizing responsibilities associated with gl…
Introductory Note
Recent developments in climate policy have done little to suggest that the world is acting quickly enough to avoid a dangerous rise in global temperatures.Despite some important steps in national policy-making-including the commencement of Australia's carbon pricing mechanism and the piloting of subnational emissions trading in China-the polarized nature of the climate debate in the United States continues to obstruct progress.Moreover, a substan…
If Equity's In, We're Out: Scope for Fairness in the Next Global Climate Agreement
At the United Nations climate change conference in 2011, parties decided to launch the "Durban Platform" to work towards a new long-term climate agreement. The decision was notable for the absence of any reference to "equity," a prominent principle in all previous major climate agreements. Wealthy countries resisted the inclusion of equity on the grounds that the term had become too closely yoked to developing countries' favored conception of equ…
Deliberation as a catalyst for reflexive environmental governance
Conclusion: A practical politics of the Anthropocene
How exactly might ecological reflexivity be established as a core priority of social, economic, and political institutions? Rather than think in terms of any model to aim for, it is better to begin with where we are now and figure out positive moves on many fronts. Living frameworks—embodied in institutions that are flexible enough to respond to changing social and ecological conditions but stable enough to provide a basis for long-term flourishi…
Democratic Anthropocene
The formative sphere is the sum of activity encompassing the creation, questioning, and development of principles for collective action. This sphere gives shape to the meaning of the Anthropocene and how its implications are taken up in collective decision-making. An effective formative sphere should operate as a deliberative and ecological democracy capable of questioning its own foundations. This chapter shows how the formative sphere can opera…
Governance in the Holocene
In the late Holocene, humans and their social institutions came to endanger their planetary comfort zone. Holocene institutions have had their successes when it comes to economic prosperity and even (recently) limiting violent conflict. But change that could enable governance to grapple with Anthropocene conditions is blocked where it is most needed. Dominant institutions such as states and markets have found ways to organize feedback that confir…
Sustainability
The idea of sustainability has dominated global environmental affairs for several decades, though sustainable development has nowhere been achieved in practice. Established conceptions of sustainable development asserting that growth, justice, and environmental protection can be mutually reinforcing now need to be rethought under the more challenging circumstances of the Anthropocene. Sustainability needs to become more reflexive: more open to a …
Governance in the Anthropocene
The opposite of path dependency is reflexivity, the capacity of structures, systems, and ideas to question their own core commitments, and if necessary change themselves, not just do different things. The main requirement of governance in the Anthropocene is ecological reflexivity, which requires listening and responding effectively to signals from the Earth system, and foresight to anticipate potentially catastrophic changes. Ecological reflexiv…
Abbreviations
Copyright Page
Who will form the Anthropocene?
The Anthropocene requires remaking social structures and practices. Who can do this, giving form and meaning to values such as justice, democracy, sustainability, and conservation, thereby disrupting path dependencies in ideas? Discourse entrepreneurs are leaders and activists who can advance discourses such as that of the Anthropocene itself, or shift the balance within or across discourses (such as moral and religious ones) in an ecological dir…
Anthropocene: The good, the bad, and the inescapable
The Anthropocene is an emerging epoch in the Earth system that requires a “state shift” in the way we think. The Earth system becomes much more unstable than it was in the last 12,000 years of the Holocene. The “bad Anthropocene” is associated with scientists who have identified “planetary boundaries” that must not be transgressed: so the Anthropocene is mostly something to be fought. The “good Anthropocene” is proposed by technological optimists…
Planetary justice
Reflexivity requires the capacity to reconsider core values: notably justice, which many people think is the most important societal value. Injustice looms large in an unstable Earth system, as pre-existing injustices are intensified and new ones emerge. Against those who think that the Anthropocene overrides or ignores justice by invoking ideas of emergency or by blaming humans as a whole for our predicament, this chapter shows how justice itsel…
The Politics of the Anthropocene
The Politics of the Anthropocene is a sophisticated yet accessible treatment of how human institutions, practices, and principles need to be re-thought in response to the challenges of the Anthropocene, the emerging epoch of human-induced instability in the Earth system and its life-support capacities. However, the world remains stuck with practices and modes of thinking that were developed in the Holocene – the epoch of around 12,000 years of un…
Ecological reflexivity: Characterising an elusive virtue for governance in the Anthropocene
Reflexivity – the capacity of an agent, structure or process to change in the light of reflection on its performance – has attracted widespread support among political theorists as a virtue for environmental governance. Dryzek argues that a distinctively ecological form of reflexivity becomes crucial for governing in the Anthropocene. But there remains a need to clarify the conceptual scope of ecological reflexivity and to ascertain whether it ha…
Process Tracing
A major challenge for empirical analysis of deliberative processes is to establish causal relationships between the context or design of these processes (e.g. access to information or the inclusion of marginalized participants) and desired outcomes (e.g. decisions that have higher epistemic or deliberative quality or are more reflective of citizens’ values). While some of these causal relationships can be tested in experimental settings or throug…
Political science (13 works) · Environmental ethics (11 works) · Anthropocene (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Climate Change and Geoengineering (7 works) · Economics (7 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Social science (7 works)