Restructuring political economy in an era of global energy and environmental change: Toward a civil society approach to promote a climate-sustainable future

This dissertation argues that nature-society relations are increasingly governed by a logic of capitalization that valorizes both social activity and environmental conditions in terms of marketable commodities. With the advance of this logic, the viability of nature-society commons is undermined, leading to a crisis discernible as a “tragedy of the capitalization of commons.”; The driving force of capitalization is evident in the case of international negotiations to address the prospect of climate change. Guided by an ideology equating economic and technological growth with progress and energy abundance with advanced civilization, modernity has rationalized unending material growth. The cumulative ecological impact of this development formula is the uniquely modern risk of climate change.; Current international negotiations to address this problem of capitalization epitomize our dilemma. The international community has settled upon a framework that relies on market-based approaches to commodify access to the atmosphere in order to mitigate the threat of climate change. Analysis at the international and national levels is provided to show that such approaches will not resolve the crisis, but rather they are likely to simply stimulate “efficient”—and profitable—responses. Further, the conflicts of liberal democracy in addressing this problem are described. Based on the research reported in the dissertation, it is projected that neither existing political and economic structures are likely to be capable of ending the risk of climate change.; At this critical time, a paradigm change is required that considers the interlocking relation of economic inequality and environmental unsustainability in order to reverse the capitalization process. The dissertation proposes creating and operationalizing an alternative political-economic regime with a strong commitment to equity and sustainability, targeting the accomplishment of an equitable and sustainable emissions rate.; To challenge the current climate dialogue dominated by the state and capital and to galvanize support for an alternative political economy of nature-society relations, the dissertation proposes a new civil approach. This new strategy is defined as “ecological democracy.” A case study of the Joint Institute for a Sustainable Energy and Environmental Future in South Korea (JISEEF) is introduced as a beginning but valuable step for such an alternative civil society approach.