Videos by Rasmus A Karlsson
In this video, I present my most cited article called "Ambivalence, irony and democracy in the An... more In this video, I present my most cited article called "Ambivalence, irony and democracy in the Anthropocene" which was published in the journal "Futures" in 2012. The article is available in full-text here at Academia.edu in my profile. 15 views
Papers by Rasmus A Karlsson
Learning and Teaching in the Social Sciences, 2022
A perennial problem for teachers of political thought is to decide what thinkers to include in th... more A perennial problem for teachers of political thought is to decide what thinkers to include in the required course readings. In many cases, teachers have come to rely on an established Western canon as they seek to build a shared disciplinary identity, impart key theoretical insights, and provide common points of reference. Increasingly, however, calls have been made to include more non-Western, female, and otherwise marginalised voices. In response, this paper presents and evaluates an interactive group video assignment by which the students are asked to identify one, hitherto excluded, political thinker and formulate arguments for his or her inclusion in the course readings. As a collaborative exercise, higher-level comprehension, analysis, and synthesis are encouraged while the shared "canon" of political thought is widened.
Social Sciences, 2021
While the precautionary principle may have offered a sound basis for managing environmental risk ... more While the precautionary principle may have offered a sound basis for managing environmental risk in the Holocene, the depth and width of the Anthropocene have made precaution increasingly untenable. Not only have many ecosystems already been damaged beyond natural recovery, achieving a sustainable long-term global trajectory now seem to require ever greater measures of proactionary risk-taking, in particular in relation to the growing need for climate engineering. At the same time, different optical illusions, arising from temporary emissions reductions due to the COVID-19 epidemic and the local deployment of seemingly “green” small-scale renewable energy sources, tend to obscure worsening global trends and reinforce political disinterest in developing high-energy technologies that would be more compatible with universal human development and worldwide ecological restoration. Yet, given the lack of feedback between the global and the local level, not to mention the role of culture and values in shaping perceptions of “sustainability”, the necessary learning may end up being both epistemologically and politically difficult. This paper explores the problem of finding indicators suitable for measuring progress towards meaningful climate action and the restoration of an ecologically vibrant planet. It is suggested that such indicators are essentially political as they reflect, not only different assessments of technological feasibility, but orientations towards the Enlightenment project
Non-Human Nature in World Politics: Theory and Practice, 2020
Ecomodernism offers a progressive and humanist vision of the Anthropocene, one in which publicly ... more Ecomodernism offers a progressive and humanist vision of the Anthropocene, one in which publicly funded innovation has made possible both universal prosperity and planetary-scale rewilding. However, given the present primitive state of technology, ecomodernism is surely guilty of fabulism as its realisation would depend on technologies that may not be available for many decades. Despite this, ecomodernists argue that there is an overriding moral imperative to accelerate the transition to a fully integrated high-energy planet even if this accentuates the short-term need for solar radiation management. The aim of this chapter is to review the debate between ecomodernists and traditional environmentalists in relation to these conflicting temporalities. It is suggested that science may be of surprisingly little help in settling the underlying macro-political disputes.
Journal of Political Science Education, 2020
This article shows how a gallery walk exercise can be used to encourage broad participation and h... more This article shows how a gallery walk exercise can be used to encourage broad participation and higher-level thinking among undergraduate students of political science. Asked to visualize the future of different political ideologies, the students work together in groups to create posters that they then present for each other during a vernissage-like event that includes a Q&A session. This seminar format enables an iterative, adaptive, and reflective approach to learning that stimulates higher-level skills such as synthesis and evaluation. As such, the gallery walk exercise can be seen as a useful complement to more traditional didactic learning activities aimed at the lower levels of Bloom’s taxonomy (e.g., knowledge and comprehension). Based on written course evaluations, the students seem to appreciate not only the novelty of the gallery walk seminar format but also how it prompted them to see the different ideologies in a new light and that it significantly deepened their understanding of the subject matter.
Environmental Politics, 2018
Green accounts of environmental citizenship typically seek to promote environmental sustainabilit... more Green accounts of environmental citizenship typically seek to promote environmental sustainability and justice. However, some green theorists have argued that liberal freedoms are incompatible with preserving a planetary environment capable of meeting basic human needs and must be wound back. More recently, ‘ecomodernists’ have proposed that liberalism might be reconciled with environmental challenges through state-directed innovation focused on the provision of global public goods. Yet, they have not articulated an account of ecomodernist citizenship. This article seeks to advance the normative theory of ecomodernism by specifying an account of ecomodernist citizenship and subjecting the theory’s core claims to sympathetic critique. We argue that state-directed innovation has the potential to reconcile ambitious mitigation with liberal freedoms. However, full implementation of ecomodernist ideals would require widespread embrace of ecophilic values, high-trust societies and acceptance of thick political obligations within both national and global communities. Ecomodernism’s wider commitments to cosmopolitan egalitarianism and separation from nature thus amount to a non-liberal comprehensive public conception of the good. Furthermore, ecomodernism currently lacks an adequate account of how a society that successfully ‘separates’ from nature can nurture green values, or how vulnerable people’s substantive freedoms will be protected during an era of worsening climate harms.
Global Change, Peace and Security, 2018
A key part of the ecomodern discourse of a ‘Good Anthropocene’ is the vision of a ‘high-energy pl... more A key part of the ecomodern discourse of a ‘Good Anthropocene’ is the vision of a ‘high-energy planet’ characterized by universal access to modern energy. Recognizing the crucial historical role that rising energy consumption has played in driving social transformations, ecomodernists imagine a future with substantial global equality of opportunity powered by clean and abundant energy. Whereas traditional environmental thinking has advocated land-intensive distributed forms of renewable energy, ecomodernists have argued that such technologies are fundamentally incompatible with a world in which 7-10 billion people can live modern lives. Instead, ecomodernists believe that only breakthrough innovation can overcome the current political and cultural polarization surrounding climate change and provide a unifying pathway towards climate stability. Yet, resurging populism and nationalism, but also the statist frame of the UNFCCC process, make such a future unlikely as rich countries remain focused on meeting their own domestic emissions targets rather than decarbonizing the global economy as a whole. As a consequence, overall political polarization is bound to increase as radical environmental voices will call for ever harsher demand-side reductions while technocratic elites may come to see solar radiation management as the only feasible way of preventing an irreversible destabilization of the climate system.
Ethics, Policy & Environment, 2017
Ecomodernists have argued that rather than imposing an “ethic of sustainability”, publicly funded... more Ecomodernists have argued that rather than imposing an “ethic of sustainability”, publicly funded breakthrough innovation can make possible both liberal freedom and expanding opportunity in the Anthropocene. Yet, just like the perfectionist social vision formulated by Randall Curren and Ellen Metzger, an ecomodern future would require far-reaching political commitment and coordination to an extent that may be at odds with real world political experiences. This commentary suggests that important insights into sustainability debates can be obtained by taking a longer look at human history.
Globalizations, 2017
As the liberal optimism of the long 1990s has faded into a world of growing inequality and resurg... more As the liberal optimism of the long 1990s has faded into a world of growing inequality and resurging nationalism, there is less certainty about the prospects of economic convergence and global integration. Beyond the formidable human cost of maintaining a divided world, the possibility of incomplete globalisation also gives rise to a number of environmental risks. While environmental political theory generally sees strength in localism, history rather shows that a robust world trade system is crucial to offset local resource scarcities and that cosmopolitan norms of solidarity are essential for helping communities to rebuild after environmental catastrophe. In relation to climate change, statist thinking has led to a focus on non-scalable technologies and a silent acceptance of chronic poverty abroad as a way of avoiding a climate emergency. Contrary to such views, this paper argues that accelerating the transition to a fully integrated high-energy planet may more effectively mitigate Anthropocene risks.
Environmental Science & Policy, Jun 10, 2016
While the notion of differentiated responsibility has always included an element of technological... more While the notion of differentiated responsibility has always included an element of technological transfer, the growing disparity between the deployment of non-scalable renewable energy sources in the rich countries and the massive expansion of fossil infrastructure elsewhere has brought new urgency to issues of climate leadership. Breakthrough innovation into technologies capable of providing an abundance of clean energy now appears necessary not only to broaden energy access but also to ensure that fossil fuels are quickly displaced globally (including in those countries that have failed to take climate change seriously). Moreover, it is reasonable to expect that a climatechanged world in itself will demand abundant energy to facilitate everything from carbon dioxide removal to mass desalination for agriculture and other adaptation measures. Considering the moral and political impossibility of treating sustained poverty as the “solution” to the climate crisis, this paper suggests that rich countries have a moral obligation to invest in breakthrough innovation into technologies that are compatible with a future global economic convergence around OECD-levels.
The Anthropocene Review, 2016
This paper presents three different metaphors for sustainability in the Anthropocene. The first ... more This paper presents three different metaphors for sustainability in the Anthropocene. The first metaphor is the widely used notion of an “ecological footprint” which offers a snapshot of what sustainability would require today using existing technologies. The second metaphor is one of a rocket taking off. Unlike the static footprint metaphor, this metaphor allows for the possibility that achieving a long-term sustainable trajectory might require entering a temporary state of even higher levels of unsustainability. Finally, a third metaphor in which human civilisation is likened to an airplane and modernity to a runway is presented. This metaphor suggests that sustainability can be achieved either by (1) a take-off into a post-scarcity space-faring civilisation or (2) a deceleration into a small-scale economy based on norms of frugality and simplicity. The third metaphor highlights the risk that insufficient political commitment to either trajectory might lead to (3) a catastrophic ecological overshoot.
Climate Policy, 2016
We propose that an international ‘Low-Emissions Technology Commitment’ be incorporated into the U... more We propose that an international ‘Low-Emissions Technology Commitment’ be incorporated into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiation process in order to promote innovation that will enable deep decarbonisation. The goal is to accelerate research, development and demonstration of safe, scalable and affordable low-emissions energy technologies. Such a commitment should be based on three elements. First, it should operate within existing UNFCCC negotiations so as to encourage developed states to offer directed funding for energy research as part of their national contributions. Second, pledges should be binding, verifiable and coordinated within an international energy-research plan. Third, expert scientific networks and participating governments should collaborate to design a coordinated global research and technology-demonstration strategy and oversee national research efforts. To this end an Intergovernmental Panel on Low-Emissions Technology Research might be established. This proposal offers some insurance against the risk that the political impasse in international negotiations cannot be overcome. The higher cost associated with low-emissions alternatives to fossil fuels currently creates significant economic and political resistance to their widespread adoption. To breach this impasse, the creation of a mechanism supporting accelerated energy research is needed that seeks to reduce future abatement costs, share experience and ‘learning-by-doing’ in first-of-akind demonstrations, and thus facilitate future widespread deployments. These actions will also assist in addressing inequalities in energy access.
Asian Politics & Policy, 2015
Environmental Politics, 2015
This paper evaluates implications for green political theory of the international community’s fai... more This paper evaluates implications for green political theory of the international community’s failure to avert dangerous warming. We identify an emerging conflict between the green-romantic value of restraint and the green-rationalist value of protection, between a desire to preserve biotic systems and a distrust of scientific solutions to problems that are intrinsically social. In response, we outline approaches that can help to navigate the current period of overshoot beyond safe planetary boundaries by informing choices among bundles of environmental harms. An ethic of restraint, encompassing non-domination and post-materialist values, can validly be justified without reference to ecological catastrophe. Meanwhile, in respect of preservation from climate-linked harms, the need for cooperation in support of scalable abatement measures suggests the necessity of accelerated research into ‘breakthrough’, low-emissions energy technologies. However, since technophilic preservationism is incompatible with existing environmental ‘logics of practice’, this strategy must mobilise political support outside the traditional environmental movement.
Global Policy, 2015
This article revisits a number of familiar debates about climate change mitigation yet draws some... more This article revisits a number of familiar debates about climate change mitigation yet draws some unorthodox conclusions. First, that progress towards a renewable small-scale energy future in environmentally conscious countries such as Germany and Sweden may take the world as a whole further away from climate stability by reducing the political pressure to finance breakthrough innovation. Second, that without such game-changing innovations, developing countries will continue to deploy whatever technologies are domestically available, scalable and affordable, including thermal coal power in most instances. Third and finally, that as any realistic hope of achieving climate stability hinges on the innovation of breakthrough technologies, the urgency of climate change calls not so much for the domestic deployment of existing energy technologies but rather a concentrated effort to develop technologies that will be adopted globally. These arguments imply that national innovation policy, and an international treaty establishing a ‘Low-Emissions Technology Commitment’ should be the central focus of climate policy.
The first theoretical aim of this article is to develop a conceptual model of social democratic p... more The first theoretical aim of this article is to develop a conceptual model of social democratic political theory in reaction to certain limitations associated with, on one hand, socialist and, on the other hand, libertarian thought. The second and more political aim is to respond to, in turn, the neoliberal argument that globalization has made the welfare state unaffordable and the ecosocialist argument that the ecological crisis has made it fundamentally unsustainable. The article is motivated by the belief that if social democracy is to regain its former political relevance, it must develop its own distinct and compelling answer to both these challenges.
Technology in Society
Before its retirement, Concorde was a powerful symbol of technological optimism. As such, and muc... more Before its retirement, Concorde was a powerful symbol of technological optimism. As such, and much like the now dismantled US manned space programme, the spirit of Concorde stood in stark contrast to the prevailing pessimism about the human enterprise. Instead of an accelerating modernity and rapid space colonization (as commonly envisaged fifty years ago) we have witnessed a fading modernity with geriatric nuclear reactors, ageing infrastructure and paralyzing public austerity. Using the symbol of Concorde, this article challenges common presumptions about the relationship between modernity and long-term sustainability, arguing that the existing literature on sustainability has underestimated the risks of maintaining an ambivalent stance towards the modern project. More specifically, the article considers the risk that humanity will fall short of developing the technology necessary to break free of its planetary entrapment yet not be able to halt the rate of environmental destruction to a degree that would ensure survival here on Earth.
Weather, Climate and Society, 2014
Recent scientific findings have underscored the need for a rapid global decarbonization. Yet, atm... more Recent scientific findings have underscored the need for a rapid global decarbonization. Yet, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to rise despite vast investments in small-scale renewable energy. Meanwhile, the prolonged international climate negotiations have yet to deliver effective mitigation action. By problematizing the issue of scalability and taking into consideration a Realist analysis of international relations, this article suggests (1) that national transitions to a low-carbon economy can only serve as stepping stones to global decarbonization if they contribute to the development of scalable technologies that are significantly cheaper than existing fossil alternatives and (2) that the current diplomatic gridlock can only be broken by technological innovation that severs the link between economic prosperity and greenhouse gas emissions, and thus also severs the link between decarbonization and military power.
Med Reclaiming the Enlightenment har Stephen Eric Bronner åstadkommit en dos veritabelt sprängsto... more Med Reclaiming the Enlightenment har Stephen Eric Bronner åstadkommit en dos veritabelt sprängstoff för vilken samhällsvetenskaplig fakultet som helst. Till skillnad från mycket som skrivits om upplysningen är Bronners bok uttalat politisk.
Futures, 2013
In ideal-typical terms, there are two ways that the current crisis of environmental sustainabilit... more In ideal-typical terms, there are two ways that the current crisis of environmental sustainability can be resolved, either (1) through the development of advanced technologies that would allow humanity to transcend its planetary boundaries or (2) through the political and economic enforcement of those boundaries. The first option is likely to require massive investments in both people and technology. The second option appears to demand near-absolute epistemological and ethical homogenization in a world as populous as ours. Both options seem to require political determination at a scale far remote from present-day realities which are characterized by a deep-felt ambivalence about the modern condition and irony about the prospects for radical change. This ambivalence is not surprising but its implications for environmental politics are both formidable and under-theorized. Instead of unintentionally slipping into an acute state of unsustainability, this paper aims to make explicit the macro-level choices implicit in the Anthropocene.► Highlights the need for a macro-level social choice with regard to sustainability. ► Discusses the need for more radical strategies for sustainability. ► Points out the possible role of social investments in achieving sustainability.
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Videos by Rasmus A Karlsson
Papers by Rasmus A Karlsson