Synopses & Reviews
Does oil wealth lead to political poverty? It often looks that way, but
Carbon Democracy tells a more complex story. In this magisterial study, Timothy Mitchell rethinks the history of energy, bringing into his grasp as he does so environmental politics, the struggle for democracy, and the place of the Middle East in the modern world.
With the rise of coal power, the producers who oversaw its production acquired the ability to shut down energy systems, a threat they used to build the first mass democracies. Oil offered the West an alternative, and with it came a new form of politics. Oil created a denatured political life whose central object – the economy – appeared capable of infinite growth. What followed was a Western democracy dependent on an undemocratic Middle East. We now live with the consequences: an impoverished political practice, incapable of addressing the crises that threaten to end the age of carbon democracy – namely, the disappearance of cheap energy and the carbon-fueled collapse of the ecological order.
Review
"Carbon Democracy is a sweeping overview of the relationship between fossil fuels and political institutions from the industrial revolution to the Arab Spring, which adds layers of depth and complexity to the accounts of how resource wealth and economic development are linked." Financial Times
Review
"A challenging, sophisticated, and important book." Foreign Policy
Review
"This study of the basis of modern democracy over the past century connects oil-producing states of the Middle East with industrial democracies of the West. Mitchell argues that carbon democracy in the West has been based on the assumption that unlimited oil will produce endless economic growth, and he concludes that this model cannot survive the exhaustion of these fuels and associated climate change. Tim Mitchell has written a remarkable book that deserves a wide audience." Mahmood Mamdani, author of < i=""> Good Muslim, Bad Muslim <>
Review
"A remarkable book that deserves a wide audience." Mahmood Mamdani, author of < i=""> Good Muslim, Bad Muslim <>
Review
"It’s a book that tackles a really big subject, in a sweeping but readable fashion, and after reading it, it’s hard to imagine thinking about political power the same way again ... This book utterly blew me away." Matt Stoller
Synopsis
How oil undermines democracy, and our ability to address the environmental crisis
Synopsis
Carbon Democracy provides a unique examination of the relationship between oil and democracy. Interweaving the history of energy, political analysis, and economic theory, Mitchell targets conventional wisdom regarding energy and governance. Emphasizing how oil and democracy have intermixed, he argues that while coal provided the impetus for mass democracy, the shift to oil drastically limited democratic possibility; above all, the ability to confront contemporary ecological crises.
Synopsis
Carbon Democracy provides a unique examination of the relationship between oil and democracy. Interweaving the history of energy, political analysis, and economic theory, Mitchell targets conventional wisdom regarding energy and governance. Emphasizing how oil and democracy have intermixed, he argues that while coal provided the impetus for mass democracy, the shift to oil drastically limited democratic possibility; above all, the ability to confront contemporary ecological crises.
Synopsis
In the global north the commoditization of creativity and knowledge under the banner of a creative economy is being posed as the post-industrial answer to dependency on labour and natural resources. Not only does it promise a more stable and sustainable future, but an economy focused on intellectual property is more environmentally friendly, so it is suggested.
Resource Sovereigns argues that the fixes being offered by this model, popularised by market economics since the end of World War II, are bluffs; that development in the global south continues to be hindered by a global division of labour and nature that puts the capacity for technological advancement in private hands. The authors call for a multilayered understanding of sovereignty (an ostensibly outdated political concept in the world of global capital) arguing that it holds the key to undermining rigid accounts of the relationship between carbon and democracy, energy and development, and energy and political expression. Furthermore, a critical focus on energy politics is crucial to wider debates on development and sustainability.
Essential reading for those wondering how energy resources are converted into political power and why we still value the energy we take from our surroundings more than the means of its extraction.
Synopsis
Contested Powers looks specifically at the role of fossil fuels and renewable energy in the economic development of countries in Latin America. The contributors to this volume argue that the two currently dominant approaches to energy policyandmdash;either a focus on energy conservation or a focus on creating renewable energy resourcesandmdash;are actually two sides of the same coin. Both approaches are hindered by an underlying division of labor and capital that puts the means for ecologically sound technological advancement in the hands of a minority. The essays in Contested Powers go beyond Latin America to demonstrate that the key to addressing climate change and sustainable development around the globe is to first address the relationship between political and financial power and energy use and resources.
About the Author
John-Andrew McNeish is a social anthropologist with experience in research, education, and consultancy.Axel Borchgrevink is associate professor at the Institute for International Studies and Interpreter Education in Oslo, Norway.Owen Logan is a photographer, writer, and a research fellow at the University of Aberdeen. He is also a contributing editor to Variant Magazine.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Recovering Power from Energy: Reconsidering the Linkages between Energy and Development in Latin America and Beyond -
John Andrew McNeish, Owen Logan and Axel BorchgrevinkPart One: Lifeworlds and Energetic States
and#160;1. Socio-environmental conflicts and territorial disputes in Guatemala: Petroleum exploitation in the Maya Biosphere Reserve - Virgilio Reyes, FLACSO Guatemala
and#160;2. Petroleum activity and environmental injustice in Venezuela: an ethnography of of the community of Punta Cardon - Maria Victoria Canino, IVIC Venezuela
and#160;3. Conflict over Windfarms, Oaxaca, Mexico - Dominic Boyer, Rice University, USA
Part Two: National Visions and Contested Strategies
and#160;4. Gracias a Dios y al gobierno! Electric power struggles and discourses in Nicaraguan politics - and#160;Axel Borchgrevink, HIOA Norway
and#160;5. The politics of distributing hydrocarbon rents in Bolivia: The Gasolinazo of 2010 - Fernanda Wanderley, CIDES UMSA Bolivia
and#160;6. The Pre-Salt of the Earth? Social and political struggles over Brazil's newfound oil - Einar Braathen, Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR).
Part Three: Porous Borders
and#160;7. Contested Powers: Energy Choices and Energy Struggles in Latin America - John-Andrew McNeish, UMB andCMI Norway
and#160;8. Sovereign Loss, Sovereign Things: The smuggling of energy resources from Bolivia to Peru - Cecilie Odegaard, UiB Norway
and#160;9. Doing Well in the Eyes of Capital: Neoliberal Therapeutics from Venezuela to Scotland - Owen Logan, University of Aberdeen
and#160;10. The Emperor's New Clothes: Biofuels Discourse in Brazil - Donald Sawyer, Center for Sustainable Development (CDS), University of Brasilia
Conclusion: Resource Sovereignties and the limits of 'Latin America'