Thisremarkablecollectionverynicelycombinesconceptual,politicalandcritical perspectives on the Anthropocene. All articles show that political science can contribute to a better understanding of the Anthropocene, but also that political science has to evolve in order to take up the challenges we face in this new era. – Markus Lederer, Chair of International Relations, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany Can a geological epoch have politics? The Anthropocene Debate and Political Science invites us to take this question seriously and to bring political analysis into the center of contemporary environmental debates. A timely and innovative investigation into the political life of the Anthropocene. – Eva Lövbrand, Department of Thematic Studies: Environmental Change, Linköping University, Sweden The Anthropocene has conquered most public and scholarly debates on the human-nature nexus – and has often been greeted without deeper reflection about the term’s social and political implications. This superb and innovative volume addresses this gap and brings political science into a timely and much- needed dialogue with the Anthropocene concept. – Fariborz Zelli, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Lund University, Sweden The Anthropocene Debate and Political Science Anthropocenehasbecomeanenvironmentalbuzzword.Itdenotesanewgeological epoch that is human‐dominated. As mounting scientific evidence reveals, humankind has fundamentally altered atmospheric, geological, hydrological, biospheric and other Earth system processes to an extent that the risk of an irreversible system change emerges. Human societies must therefore change direction and navigate away from critical tipping points in the various ecosystems of our planet. This hypothesis has kicked off a debate not only on the geoscientific definition of the Anthropocene era, but increasingly also in the social sciences. However, the specific contribution of the social sciences disciplines and in particular that of political science still needs to be fully established. This edited volume analyses, from a political science perspective, the wider social dynamics underlying the ecological and geological changes, as well as their implications for governance and politics in the Anthropocene. The focus is on two questions: (1) What is the contribution of political science to the Anthropocene debate, e.g., in terms of identified problems, answers and solutions? (2) What are the conceptual and practical implications of the Anthropocene debate for the discipline of political science? Overall, this book contributes to the Anthropocene debate by providing novel theoretical and conceptual accounts of the Anthropocene, engaging with contemporary politics and policy-making in the Anthropocene, and offering a critical reflection on the Anthropocene debate as such. The volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of political science, global environmental politics and governance, and sustainable development. Thomas Hickmann is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Potsdam in Germany. Lena Partzsch is a Professor of Environmental and Development Policy at the University of Freiburg in Germany. PhilippPattbergisaProfessorofTransnationalEnvironmentalGovernanceand Policy at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Sabine Weiland is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Lille Catholic University, affiliated with the European School of Political and Social Sciences (ESPOL) in France. Routledge Research in Global Environmental Governance Series Editors: Philipp Pattberg VU University Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Global Change Institute (AGCI), the Netherlands Agni Kalfagianni Utrecht University, the Netherlands Global environmental governance has been a prime concern of policymakers since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972. Yet, despite more than nine hundred multi-lateral environmental treaties coming into force over the past forty years and numerous public-private and private ini- tiatives to mitigate global change, human-induced environmental degradation is reaching alarming levels. Scientists see compelling evidence that the entire Earthsystemnowoperateswelloutsidesafeboundariesandatratesthatacceler- ate.Theurgentchallengefromasocialscienceperspectiveishowtoorganisethe co-evolutionofsocietiesandtheirsurroundingenvironment;inotherwords,how to develop effective and equitable governance solutions for today’s global problems. Against this background, the Routledge Research in Global Environmental Governanceseriesdeliverscutting-edgeresearchonthemostvibrantandrelevant themes within the academic field of global environmental governance. Grassroots Environmental Governance Community Engagements with Industry Edited by Leah S. Horowitz and Michael J. Watts Traditions and Trends in Global Environmental Politics International Relations and the Earth Edited by Olaf Corry and Hayley Stevenson Regime Interaction and Climate Change The Case of International Aviation and Maritime Transport Beatriz Martinez Romera The Anthropocene Debate and Political Science Edited by Thomas Hickmann, Lena Partzsch, Philipp Pattberg and Sabine Weiland For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ Routledge-Research-in-Global-Environmental-Governance/book-series/RRGEG The Anthropocene Debate and Political Science Edited by Thomas Hickmann, Lena Partzsch, Philipp Pattberg and Sabine Weiland Firstpublished2019 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2019selectionandeditorialmatter,ThomasHickmann,LenaPartzsch, PhilippPattbergandSabineWeiland;individualchapters,thecontributors TherightofThomasHickmann,LenaPartzsch,PhilippPattbergandSabine Weilandtobeidentifiedastheauthorsoftheeditorialmaterial,andof theauthorsfortheirindividualchapters,hasbeenassertedinaccordance withsections77and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproduced orutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans, nowknownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,or inanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissionin writingfromthepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanation withoutintenttoinfringe. BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Acatalogrecordforthisbookhasbeenrequested ISBN:978-0-8153-8614-8(hbk) ISBN:978-1-351-17412-1(ebk) TypesetinTimesNewRoman byApexCoVantage,LLC Contents List of figures ix List of tables x List of contributors xi Acknowledgements xvii 1 Introduction: a political science perspective on the Anthropocene 1 THOMASHICKMANN,LENAPARTZSCH,PHILIPPPATTBERGAND SABINEWEILAND PARTI Theories and concepts 13 2 A natural history for the 21st century: rethinking the Anthropocene narrative with Arendt and Adorno 15 MAIKEWEIßPFLUG 3 Disentangling descriptions of and responses to the Anthropocene: norms and implications of scientific representations of the Earth system 31 JOHANNESLUNDERSHAUSEN 4 The Anthropocene and governance: critical reflections on conceptual relations 48 BASILBORNEMANN 5 International theory in the Anthropocene: moving beyond species, state and governance 67 FRANZISKAMÜLLER viii Contents PART II Governance and practices 83 6 Security studies and the discourse on the Anthropocene: shortcomings, challenges and opportunities 85 JUDITHNORAHARDT 7 Global climate governance as boundary object: making the meaning of the Anthropocene 103 LUKASHERMWILLE 8 From ‘talking the talk’ to ‘walking the walk’? Multi-level global governance of the Anthropocene in Indonesia 124 CHRISHÖHNE 9 Agricultural governance in the Anthropocene: a research agenda 146 SANDRASCHWINDENHAMMER PART III Critical perspectives and implications 165 10 Sustainability impact assessment of land use changes in the Anthropocene 167 TILLHERMANNSANDQIRUILI 11 ThenuclearlegacyintheAnthropocene:interrelationsbetween nature, technology and society 182 DÖRTETHEMANNANDACHIMBRUNNENGRÄBER 12 Worlds apart? The Global South and the Anthropocene 200 JENSMARQUARDT 13 The Anthropocene concept as a wake-up call for reforming democracy 219 JÖRGTREMMEL 14 Conclusion: towards a ‘deep debate’ on the Anthropocene 237 THOMASHICKMANN,LENAPARTZSCH,PHILIPPPATTBERGAND SABINEWEILAND Index 252 Figures 7.1 Schematic illustration of embedded systems, different levels of organisational hierarchy and complementary perspectives of transition research and IR 106 7.2 Schematic illustration of inter- and transnational governance initiatives in relation to the multi-level perspective 111 10.1 Analytical framework for ex-ante sustainability impact assessment of land use changes 173 12.1 Consecutive steps of this literature review 205 12.2 Records by country affiliation 206 12.3 Records by geographical focus 207