Environmentalism of the malcontent

Anatomy of an anti-coal power plant struggle in Turkey

Bibliographic Data

ID2157113
AuthorsMurat Arsel (0000-0001-9625-1426), Bengi Akbulut (0000-0002-6156-1632), Fikret Adaman (0000-0003-3216-7684)
Year2015
Volume42
Issue2
Pages371-395
Publication date2015-03-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Peasant Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0306-6150 • E-ISSN: 1743-9361
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03066150.2014.971766
OpenAlexW2094502232
LanguageEN
Citations received41
References cited33

This paper introduces the concept of the 'environmentalism of the malcontent' to characterise a type of environmental activism that is increasingly common in Turkey. It illustrates its argument by analysing the resistance movement against the proposed Gerze coal power plant. By so doing, it problematises the relationship between class and environmental consciousness as well as the ability of the existing literature to accurately characterise the underlying motivation of movements against development projects. It shows that the mobilisation in Gerze was not rooted only or primarily in environmental concerns but animated by disaffection with, among other things, neoliberal developmentalism, disregard of democratic policy-making and violent suppression of societal dissent by the state. 'Environmentalism of the malcontent' describes the way in which long-lasting dissatisfaction with broader processes marking the development trajectory of the country combined with personal experience in radical political action enabled a group of urban, mostly retired, residents of Gerze to successfully collaborate with peasant activists against the construction of the power plant by deploying arguments regarding its potential negative environmental impact.Keywords: Turkeyenvironmental movementsclasspeasant activismenergy AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank Pat Devine, Roldan Muradian, Theodore L. Steck and the two anonymous referees for their very useful comments and suggestions. Previous versions of this paper were presented by the authors at the 'Research in progress' seminar series of the International Institute of Social Studies, the States of Contradiction: political economy of land and natural resources in Turkey and India workshop at Bogˇaziçi University, the International relations and the environment conference at Marmara University, the Dispossession and collective action: neoliberal (re)structurings of the rural in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey workshop at Zentrum Moderner Orient and the Political ecology working group in Istanbul. We are grateful to the participants of these meetings for their constructive engagement with our paper. Finally, the authors thank Cevahir Oˇzgüler for her assistance in field research.Additional informationNotes on contributorsMurat Arsel is an associate professor of environment and development at the International Institute of Social Studies (Erasmus University Rotterdam). During spring 2014, he was the Keyman Family Visiting Professor of Modern Turkish Studies at Northwestern University. He has been working on political ecology of development, environmental conflicts and geographies of modernisation. His empirical work has focused mainly on Turkey and Latin America.Notes on contributorsBengi Akbulut is an independent researcher based in Istanbul. She completed a PhD in economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and postdoctoral studies at the School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester. Her research is within the field of political economy of development broadly, currently focusing on political ecology, state theory, social movements and commons theory. Email: [email protected] on contributorsFikret Adaman is a professor in the Department of Economics at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey. His research areas include political ecology, the political economy of Turkey, history of economic thought and ecological economics. For publications, see http://www.econ.boun.edu.tr/content/vita/fikret_adaman.pdf. Email: [email protected]

Biology · Environmental ethics · Environmentalism · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature · Energy and Environment Impacts · Law · Philosophy · Water Governance and Infrastructure

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