Post-Political Condition and the Degrowth Imaginary: Radicalizing Environmental Politics in the Face of the Ecological Crises

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 17 Sayı: 2, 296 - 331, 29.06.2025

Yusuf Murteza

https://doi.org/10.53376/ap.2025.11

Öz

Discussions of alternative socio-economic futures are more relevant than ever due to the challenge of environmental breakdown. The consequences of the ecological crisis are believed to be increasingly drastic for societies in the coming decades. The bleak imagination of the future is coupled with uncertainty in environmental politics. In this context, mainstream policies have been offering sustainable development, green growth, and ecological modernization as ways to reconcile economic growth with ecological balance. Drawing insights from post-political theory, this paper argues that there is not an environmental policy in real terms for ecological transformation of society. Examining the post-political landscape in the contemporary stage of neoliberalism and sustainable development, this paper considers the degrowth imaginary as an alternative socio-economic future. Investigating the decline of alternative imaginaries for societal transformation constitutes the research focus. This paper makes several claims; neoliberalism in its current form marks the end of politics, post-politics has spilled over into environmental politics, where societal transformation is rarely discussed, and the political strategies of the degrowth imaginary bear potential to transcend the current impasse in environmental politics.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Post-Political Condition , Degrowth , Neoliberalism , Ecological Crisis , Environmental Politics

Teşekkür

This study was derived from the thesis titled “An Alternative to the ‘Development Discourse’ in the face of the Ecological Crisis: The Degrowth Movement”, written by Yusuf Murteza in 2021 as part of the MA program in Sociology at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Institute of Social Sciences, Yıldız Technical University, under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Betül Duman Bay.

Post-Siyasal Durum ve Küçülme Tahayyülü: Ekolojik Krizler Karşısında Çevre Siyasetini Radikalleştirmek

Öz

Çevresel tehditlerin meydan okuması karşısında, alternatif toplumsal ve iktisadi gelecek tahayyüllerine ilişkin tartışmalar giderek daha önemli olmaktadır. Ekolojik krizin, toplumlar açısından sonuçlarının önümüzdeki yıllarda daha çetin olacağı ifade edilmektedir. Gelecek tahayyüllerindeki bu kasvetli durum, çevre siyasetindeki belirsizlik ile birleşmektedir. Bu bağlamda sürdürülebilir kalkınma, yeşil büyüme ve ekolojik modernleşme gibi hâkim paradigmalar, ekonomik büyüme ile ekolojik dengenin uzlaştırılması için ince ayar stratejiler oluşturmaya çalışmaktadırlar. Post-siyasal teorinin kuramsal çerçevesiyle birlikte bu makale, toplumun ekolojik dönüşümü için gerçek anlamda bir çevre siyasetinin olmadığını savunmaktadır. Neoliberalizm, sürdürülebilir kalkınma ve post-siyasal durum arasındaki bağlantıları çözümlemeyi hedefleyen bu araştırma aynı zamanda küçülme tahayyülünün, alternatif toplumsal ve iktisadi gelecek tartışmaları açısından önemini ortaya koymaya çalışmaktadır. Araştırmanın odak noktasını, alternatif toplumsal dönüşümlere olan ilginin gündelik siyasetin gündeminden düşmesi oluşturur. Bu makale sırasıyla; neoliberalizmin, siyasetin sonunu işaret ettiğini, post-siyasal durumun, çevre siyasetine yayılarak toplumsal dönüşüm tartışmalarına olan ilgiyi azalttığını ve küçülme tahayyülünün siyasi stratejilerinin, çevre siyasetindeki güç durumu aşma potansiyeline sahip olduğunu göstermeye çalışmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Post-Siyasal Durum , Küçülme , Neoliberalizm , Ekolojik Kriz , Çevre Siyaseti

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