In a thought-provoking talk at the recent Critical Legal Talk event, renowned political theorist Professor Wendy Brown (Princeton University) challenged conventional notions through her concept of "reparative democracy." As we grapple with existential threats like climate change driven by fossil fuel extraction, Brown argues for a radical rethinking of how we perceive and interact with the world around us, writes Nataliia Beldynska.
It is a crucial topic, especially for the modern day, as we face existential threats due to fossil fuel extraction and increased consumption. The approach demonstrated by the supporters of reparative democracy is innovative and impressive in its depth. It aims to rethink the ways in which we look at the world. It questions anthropocentric ideas, which have been predominant in most areas, such as science, politics, and law, since the Enlightenment.
The main idea of the talk was that democratic practices and ethos must be relentlessly and radically reparative in relation to present and past ways of life that damage the planet. The speaker emphasised how the perception of the future in the postmodern world has shifted from something that is to be crafted to something that has to be navigated and survived and the connection of this process to Faulkner’s concept of fossil modernity. The consequences of resource extraction and harm already done to the environment, exemplified by global warming, water contamination, and high carbon levels, shape our present and will always affect our future. Therefore, democracy needs to focus on repairing past injustices, shift away from anthropocentric thinking, and strive to acknowledge and rectify historical wrongs.
Representative democracy is in crisis; it has a dark history of violence and exclusion and fails to address global threats. It “replaced equality with a system of winners and losers, flooded politics with market values and equated social justice with totalitarian statism”. Critiques of democracy reveal how the idealised notion of this system often masks the oppressive nature of gendered and racial capitalism. The lecture draws from real-world examples, such as the contentious "Cop City" project in Atlanta's South River Forest, to illustrate the intersectionality of racial, environmental, and social justice struggles. But that does not mean that the concept of political self-rule has to die. Democracy has to become reparative, move away from anthropocentric ideas, and recognise and repair the wrongdoings of the past. Rather than seeking immediate solutions or utopian ideals, reparative democracy calls for a more inclusive, responsive, and responsible form of governance.
Western democracy lacks consideration for the politics of households, agricultural production, and human interaction with the non-human world. This leads to the normalisation of domination in each of these areas and the failure to acknowledge the dependencies that exist. As a result, the image is developed of a ‘democratic man with slaves and beasts’. Professor Brown critiques the neoliberal economisation of life and traditional approaches to justice, advocating instead for political systems that prioritise the interdependence of human and non-human life.
In summary, reparative democracy, unlike modern liberal democracy, has a different ethos from progress, systematicity, utopia, and totality; it replaces humans as the centre of the world by embracing the transformative principles of transformative political action grounded in humility, materiality, and interconnectedness. It aims to build a more inclusive, responsive, and sustainable world for all.
The recording of the lecture is available on the School of Law YouTube channel.
Article by: Nataliia Beldynska