Political Ecology

Primitive accumulation

Marx’ analysis of the process of divorcing the labourer from the means of production. It is a specific period in time which created the conditions for capitalism.

Accumulation by Dispossession (AbD)

is Harvey’s reformulation of PA to argue that PA is an ongoing process. It means that it is not merely creating the conditions of capitalism, but it is at the core of how capitalism works.

“disarticulated” accumulation (Shivji 2009)

refers to the fragmented and uneven processes of accumulation in post-colonial contexts, highlighting how global capital operates in ways that disrupt local economies and social structures.

metabolic rift

refers to the ecological disconnection between human society and the natural environment, resulting from capitalist production methods that disrupt natural cycles and create unsustainable practices.

three elements of metabolic rift

• Material circulation: disruptions in nutrient, energy, water, and waste cycles, such as soil-nutrient depletion.

• Spatial organization: the division between city and countryside, core and periphery, and global supply chains.

• Temporal organization: nature regenerates on ecological timescales, while capital demands rapid turnover, profit, and continuous growth.

metabolic shift

capitalism’s attempt to manage a rift by changing the form, location, or technology of the metabolism—not necessarily by restoring ecological balance. It can move extraction and pollution somewhere else, substitute one input for another, or create new dependencies.

Marx Capitalism

Marx saw capitalism as a social and economic system which is a) driven by capital being invested with the aim of earning more money and b) this accumulation dynamic (based on private ownership,wage labour and competitive markets) has a decisive influence on society

social reproduction

the processes through which society ensures the maintenance and continuation of its members, including the work of caring for and nurturing individuals within families and communities, as well as the provision of education and socialization.

big D/small d development

Big D” Development I define as the multiply scaled projects of intervention in the “Third World” that emerged in the context of decolonization struggles and the Cold War. “Little d” development refers to the development of capitalism as geographically uneven but spatially interconnected processes of creation and destruction, dialectically interconnected with discourses and practices of Development.

dependency and world-systems theory

• periphery and core countries

• Core dependent on natural resources, labour and exploitation of periphery

• Periphery is dependent on the technical expertise and aid from the core

Land degradation

”the substantial decrease in either or both of an area’s biological productivity or usefulness due to human interference” (Johnson and Lewis 1995).

categories of degradation

• Loss of natural productivity

• Loss of biodiversity

• Loss of usefulness

• Creating or shifting risk ecology

Loss of productivity

Decline in biomass production (productive potential) per unit area

The climax (equilibrium) theory of natural ecosystems

Ecosystems progress steadily and predictably along well-defined successional pathways until they reach a stable, self-sustaining state 

Non-equilibrium paradigm

 Natural disturbance is so common that it keeps the system from ever reaching a stable state, so it is unrealistic to assume that climax is the ”normal” condition for ecosystems;

The Big Woods of Minnesota

The Big Woods stand on "prairie" soils, and pollen analysis has shown that the area before was covered by oak "Little Ice Age" in the 27th century is believed to have tipped the balance by reducing fire frequencies, allowing the current maple-elm-basswood forest to win

Scale Matters

Temporal, Spatial

Knowledge is political

Criteria for degradation, scale and method of a study shape findings – they are partial representations

Triangulation

collecting multiple pieces of evidence to arrive at an answer

scientific realism

science viewed as progressing toward truth - scientific method, reality = directly observable

Thomas Kuhn on SR

large paradigms shift over time which can create revolution if observation doesn’t shift

Merton and Scientific Norms

CUDOS - communism, universalism, disinterestedness, organised skepticsm

merchant on SR

modern view based on violent history rendering nature inert - human vs nature divide

Latour on SR

facts not disvoered bu made, negotiated, argued for in social systems w/ power imbalance

standpoint feminism

subjugated knowledge are given privilege

Environmental orthodoxies

generalised statements referring to environmental degradation causes of environmental change that are often accepted as fact, but have been shown by field research to be both biophysically inaccurate and also leading to environmental policies that restrict socio-economic activities of people living in the affected zone

Reproduction of narratives

• Scientific theory (e.g. climax vegetation)

• Scientific method

• public policy

• practical effects of development

• pop culture

Three dimensions of Power (Luke)

1- Actor A exercises power over actor B, when A can get B to do something that B would not otherwise do.

2- Power is exercised when A prevents B from bringing issues to the table.

3-Power is exercised when A shapes B’s preferences so that B accepts or doesn’t even recognize their own interests

Actor-oriented Power (Instrumental view)

Power is seen as being exercised by actors: actors are seen to exercise power in a strong sense through actions to achieve particular intentions (intentionality)

Discursive Power

how some actors exercise power through the establishment of discourses on issues and narratives of specific cases in ways that are suitable to themselves.

Governmentality

ways in which governments administer citizens to act in accordance with government priorities

Biopower

governmental concerns have emerged about various populations' qualities such as health, population planning and opportunities for improvement

productive power foucault

understanding that power is not merely repressive, prohibitive, or coercive, but is actively creative and generative, e.g. control children - use timetables, seating arrangements instead of physical force

Actor oriented perspectives

• Intentionality

• Relationality

• Causality

3 dimensions of power luke

A to B, table agenda, B wants what A wants without knowing it may conflict with interests

power resources

These are means, or various types of capital, that different actors have available and may use in order to realize their intentions, particularly when they are able to convert one form of capital into another

"Discursive power"

exercised when actors such as corporations, government agencies or NGOs, produce discourses and manage to get other groups to adopt and contribute to the reproduction of their discourses

govermentality

the ways in which governments administer citizens to act in accordance with government priorities

4 factors of governmentality

• "Disciplining" implies that the government manages to get citizens to internalize certain "mentalities" in terms of social norms and ethical standards

• "Truth" means ruling of people through religion or other overarching truth-defining principles

• "Neoliberal rationality" implies that an incentive structure is established to maximize results

• "sovereign power" means governing through defined rules and sanctions.

Biopower

Foucault distinguishes between sovereign power as the power to "take life or let live" and biopower as the power to "make live or let die", in order to secure lives, governmental concerns have emerged about various populations' qualities such as health, and opportunities for improvement

Necropolitics (Mbembe)

a power that decides who lives and who dies. Racism as a tool of power: divides the population between those who must live and those who can be exposed to death.

How is biopower governed?

problematisation, intervenion, knowledge production, subjectification 

hegemony

the way a dominant social or ruling class maintains control over society not just through physical force or coercion, but by producing consent

infrapolitics

concept that describes hidden and everyday forms of resistance by subordinate groups