ABSTRACT

The failure of states to take the necessary actions to prevent global temperatures from soaring may be interpreted as more than an act of environmental negligence. In terms of a knowing imposition of harm, it also represents an act of domination. That is, a deliberate denial of rights to a safe, democratic, and sustainable future. This paper notes the role played by institutional power in preserving this system of domination and in shaping the discursive spaces in which carbon energy options continue to be vigorously defended even in the face of mounting evidence of their danger. Yet as signs of eco-distress grow stronger, so too does a questioning of the legitimacy of this power order. This paper examines how youth employ ‘communicative power’, as the product of a common will formed in non-coercive communication, to counter this domination and reinterpret climate change as the product of dysfunctional decision-making and ‘abnormal’ justice relations between generations. It notes the significance of these actors’ mobilization efforts to societal processes of learning about democracy's better potentialities and capacities to transform society from within (via law).

摘要

国家没有采取必要的行动来防止全球气温飙升，这不仅仅被视为环境过失行为。就已知施加的伤害而言，它也代表着统治行为。也就是说，蓄意剥夺享有安全，民主和可持续未来的权利。本文指出了机构权力在维护这一统治体系和塑造话语空间中所扮演的角色，即使面对越来越多的危险证据，碳动力选择仍在其中受到强有力的捍卫。然而，随着生态危机的迹象越来越严重，对这一权力秩序的合法性的质疑也越来越强烈。本文探讨了青年如何利用“沟通能力”，这是非强制性沟通中形成的共同意志的产物，为了应对这种统治，并将气候变化重新解释为决策失调和几代人之间“异常”正义关系的产物。它指出了这些参与者的动员努力对社会进程的学习意义，即了解民主的更好潜力和能力（通过法律）从内部改造社会。