Lecture 4 - Environmental Authoritarianism + Fascism

Gilman - Avocado Politics (brown on inside, green on outside) (4)

• Genealogy of ideological continuities a) fascism b) ecology

• Pre-Nazi blend of naturalist-nationalist sentiment

• Nationalist Socialist ideology + practice

• Significance

Pre-Nazi blend of naturalist-nationalist sentiment (3)

• Anti-modern rejection of industrialization, urbanization, capitalism + rationality as environmentally destructive forces (associated w Judaism)

• Nature mysticism, traditionalism + romantic connection to nature (associated w German völk)

• Pseudo-scientific “justification” of this distinction in early ecology

Nationalist Socialist ideology + practice (4)

1. Skepticism of modernity + anthropocentrism, argues society must be org according to nature’s laws

2. Frames anti-modernism in racialized terms, in part by drawing on misapplied ecology

3. Green faction of Nazi party pursues env sensitive policies in agricultural + industrial sectors

4. Enacts some of most assertive + robust environmental laws

Significance (2)

1. Env + ecology are politically indeterminate (i.e., environmentalism + ecologism can be part of all sorts of pol projects + endowed w all sorts of pol meaning)

2. Therefore, must be vigilant ab how green concerns are interpreted + mobilized politically

Anti-Modern Naturalism and Nationalism (2)

• Late 19th, early 20th century Germany: cultural synthesis of naturalism + nationalism

• E.g., Völkisch movement

Late 19th, early 20th century Germany: cultural synthesis of naturalism + nationalism (2)

1. Naturalism: nature is not inert matter to dom through reason, but a quasi-mystical entity to commune or connect with

2. Nationalism: well-being of German ppl linked to well-being of German land, nature + nation one

E.g., Völkisch movement (5)

1. Unites ethnocentric populism w nature mysticism

2. Rejects modernity i.e., capitalism, industrialization, urbanization as brought disruption to tradition 

3. Advocates return to land, simplicity, natural purity 

4. Personifies forces of modernity as expressions of Judaism - blamed rationalism, cosmopolitanism and urban civilisation on Judaism 

5. Naturalism + nationalism linked to antisemitism

Ecology (2)

1. Haeckel: originator of term “ecology” ( = study of how organisms interact w environment); social Darwinist; proponent of eugenics; proponent of “racial purity”

2. Early ecology bound up in a reactionary political framework - center of ecology was commitment to biological concepts onto society 

Early ecology bound up in a reactionary political framework - center of ecology was commitment to biological concepts onto society (4)

1. Application of biological concepts onto society implications:

   1. Insisting human society is governed by same laws as rest of nature cuts against anthropocentrism (humans are equal to non-human world) + modern ethos of human supremacy + control

   2. Insisting human society is governed by same laws as rest of nature lends scientific veneer to racist naturalism-nationalism of völkisch movement (i.e., modernity personified can be framed as antithetical to “laws of nature” or “unnatural”)

   3. The figure of jew framed as against laws of nature/unnatural 

Youth Movement (4)

1. “Hiking Birds” [Wandervögel] youth mvt

   1. Blended Neo-romanticism, nature mysticism + hostility to reason (Enlightment/French Rev) w env conservation, wilderness expeditions, immersion in nature

   2. “Right-wing hippies” later absorbed by Nazis who model their own youth mvt on it

   3. Nazism tapped into racially-inflicted nationalism-naturalism, early ecologist reduction of social to biological + rejection of modernity + reason 

Environment and Nazi ideology (2)

• Denigrates human agency in favor of natural order and law - humans are subordinate to nature 

• Emphasizes organic holism 

Denigrates human agency in favor of natural order and law - humans are subordinate to nature (4)

1. Takes issue w anthropocentrism + modern ethos of human primacy

2. Anthropocentrism only valid “if it is assumed that nature has been created only for man. - Nazis reject this attitude for them a man is a link in living chain of nature just as any other organism”

3. Systems of human life must be modeled on nature + org according to fixed laws of nature

4. Failure to org human society according to nature’s dictates will lead to social + environmental devastation

Emphasizes organic holism (4)

1. Holism: parts of a whole (e.g., system or organism) can’t exist independently or be understood except in relation to whole, which therefore takes priority over parts

2. E.g., 1934 Reich Agency for Nature Protection biology curricula objective: “Youth must develop understanding of civic imp of organism, = coord of all parts + organs for benefit of one + superior task of life”

3. Nazi thought transposes ecological-biological idea of holism onto society

4. Because human society is no different from nature, rules of ecology + biology apply

Emphasizes organic holism - Implications (2)

1. Authoritarian implications: individuals can be sacrificed for totality - individuals/rights are not as imp as the whole (totalitarian implications)

2. Racist implications: if an “urbanized + overcivilized modern human race” is “responsible” for destroying env, then must be eliminated

Environment and Nazi Practice from Green faction within the Nazi Party (3)

• Agricultural policy

• Industrial and technological policy

• Environmental laws

Agricultural policy (4)

1. Organic farming methods introduced at mass scale

2. Goals a) re-agrarianization b) farming conducted according to "laws of life"

3. Inc agricultural productivity in harmony w nature

4. Gov support for environmentally sound agriculture

Industrial and technological policy (4)

1. Massive construction projects (e.g.,. Autobahn) must be executed in environmentally sensitive way

2. Construction must harmonize w natural surroundings + complement landscape

3. Env criteria for industrial projects (e.g., protection of wetlands, forests, fragile eco-systems)

4. Reich "Advocate for Landscape" ensures industrial build-up doesn't compromise environment

Environmental laws (2)

1. 1933: reforestation; species protections; preservationist limits to industrial dev; construction of nature preserves

2. 1935: guidelines for safeguarding of flora, fauna + natural monuments; restrictions on commercial uses of natural resources; requirement to consult "nature-reserve" authorities in advance of dev

Environment and genocide (5)

1. Anti-humanism + preoccupation w natural purity feed into genocide

2. National Socialism personified forces of modernity (capitalism, industrialization, urbanization) as expressions of Judaism

3. National Socialism blamed modernity’s env degradation on “destructive influence” of a race

4. To correct for env degradation + return German ppl to their supposedly innate closeness to nature, Nazism sought to eliminate that race(jews)

5. Legacy of eco-fascism in power: “genocide dev into a necessity under the cloak of env protection”

Li + Shapiro - Environmental authoritarianism + China (4)

1. China as eco-political model? Eco-autocrat needed to save planet? No.

2. Environmental authoritarianism

3. Environmental authoritarianism in China

4. China’s environmental accomplishments real but compromised 

Environmental authoritarianism (2)

1. Environmentalism as means to authoritarianism

2. State uses environmentalism to concentrate, entrench + justify authoritarian rule

Environmental authoritarianism in China (3)

1. Illustrates how authoritarian regimes can use env issues to entrench autocratic rules 

2. Expansion of state’s regulatory scope to env + env adjacent issues

3. Cooptation of non-state actors (e.g., NGOS, media, scientists) into state’s env agenda

China’s environmental accomplishments real but compromised (3)

1. China has made env progress (e.g., clean tech industries, enshrining of "ecological civilization" in Constitution)

2. But is still plagued by env challenges (e.g., pollution, contamination)

3. What progress has been made has come at cost of indi rights + social freedoms

Environmental Authoritarianism in China - Li + Shapiro (6)

1. Environmental authoritarianism is diff in diff parts of country

2. In less developed areas, it can take form of forced relocations in name of environmentalism

   1. Relocation to facilitate reforestation, building of renewable energy sites, conservationism, etc.

   2. Often targets ethnic minorities

3. Can allow state to advance several goals at once

   1. E.g., w forced relocations, state can pacify border regions and secure green energy at same time

Why environmental authoritarianism and NOT authoritarian environmentalism

For Li and Shapiro, this isn’t authoritarian environmentalism (environment is end but authoritarianism is means), but environmental authoritarianism = authoritarianism is goal + environmentalism is means to achieve that goal -> some environmental progress may be made but all in service of entrenching top-down control (justify state control)

Environmentalism and the Growth of state Power - Li + Shapiro (3)

• Increased OUTWARD manifestation of state power

• Increased INWARD experience of state power

• Taking up environmental concerns can expand authoritarian state’s reach and increase its resilience

Increased OUTWARD manifestation of state power (2)

1. E.g., state moves whole populations + builds new hydropower dams in their wake, state leaves a physical mark on environment

   1. That mark sends a message: state is powerful + authoritative, so much so that it can dramatically reorder both ppl + environment

Increased INWARD experience of state power (3)

1. Green initiatives allows state to tap into personal lives of citizens

   1. E.g., community morality bank: part of social credit system awarding points for virtuous deeds + deduct them for immoral behavior

   2. Environmentally virtuous deeds like recycling rewarded, environmentally unvirtuous deeds punished

China & High Modernism - Li + Shapiro (8)

1. Mastery + control key ingredients of modern ethos - Li + Shapiro see this in China

2. People mastered + controlled

   1. E.g., morality bank

   2. Citizens legible or transparent to state

   3. Can be monitored + evaluated according to env conformity w regime

3. Environment mastered + controlled

   1. E.g., hydropower dams

   2. Water + land its channeled through subjected to technological command + direction

Two contrasts (2)

• Both skepticism and embrace of modernity can issue in coercive politics

• Environmental coercion and illiberalism at play in the West too

Both skepticism and embrace of modernity can issue in coercive politics (3)

1. For National Socialism (Nazi Party), human dom of nature yields social + env devastation

2. For China, human dom of nature yields social + env advancement

3. Env assessments of modernity can be politically indeterminate

Environmental coercion and illiberalism at play in the West too (5)

1. E.g., UNFCCC REDD+ program (“Reducing Emissions from Deforestation + forest Degradation”) (Li and Shapiro)

2. Rich countries effectively pay poor countries to not cut down forests

3. This policy can be unpopular among citizens in target countries who can no longer use their env as they’d like to w/o having had much say in matter

4. Here it’s not state, but an IO that issues coercive env policy

5.  E.g., Climate crisis as rationale for tighter borders, stronger nationalism (Gilman)

Avoiding eco-Coercion (4)

• Gilman One

• Gilman Two

• Gilman Three

• Li + Shapiro

Gilman One (2)

1. Cautions against framework of catastrophe, which can motivate new forms of eco-fascism as readily as mainstream env engagement

2. E.g., apocalyptic framing of climate change may invite extreme opposition to immigration + “us vs. them” antagonisms

Gilman Two (3)

1. Makes a bid for imp of historical awareness

2. If we understand how past illiberal politics took up environmentalism, then we can reduce chances of environmentalism being co-opted by present + future illiberal politics

3. The historical form of Gilman's argument is in this way connected to its prescriptive content

Gilman Three (3)

1. Cautions against unreflectively applying natural scientific concepts onto society

2. E.g., National Socialists thought ecological holism must dictate socio-pol life, but this authorizes absolutism + shuts down debate, negotiation + compromise

3. Argues against reducing social systems + dynamics, which are contingent + mutable, to natural systems + dynamics, which are necessary + immutable

Li + Shapiro (3)

1. Caution to be wary of environmentalism as Trojan horse (efforts/claims to address env concerns as a way to achieve authoritarianism) 

2. Overtly protecting env can be a way to covertly advance other pol goals

3. Suggest we interrogate pol implications of diff courses of env action