Markus Wissen

Global Environmental Politics and the Imperial Mode of Living: Articulations of State–Capital Relations in the Multiple Crisis

The article introduces the concept of the ‘imperial mode of living’, which is sustained by capital and the capitalist state, in order to understand the persistence of resource- and energy-intensive everyday practices and their socio-ecological consequences. The imperial mode of living is principally based on an unlimited appropriation of resources and labour power and on a disproportionate claim to global sinks. In the constellation of the ‘multiple crises’, it contributes to safeguarding social stability in the global North and provides a hegemonic orientation in many societies of the global South. At the same time it has plunged global environmental politics into a severe crisis, fostering (neo-)imperialist strategies with respect to natural resources and sinks. In this sense, the imperial mode of living makes the crisis both more acute and able to be processed in a socially and spatially limited dimension. The concept thus helps to understand the simultaneous persistence and crisis of the neoliberal–imperial constellation and to identify starting points for counter-hegemonic struggles. Este artículo introduce el concepto del ‘modo de vida imperial’, el cual se sustenta por el capital y el estado capitalista, para entender la persistencia de las intensas prácticas diarias y sus consecuencias socioecológicas del recurso- y energía-. El modo de vida imperial se basa principalmente en una apropiación ilimitada de recursos y poder laboral y en una demanda desproporcionada de sumideros globales. En la constelación de las ‘múltiples crisis’, contribuye a salvaguardar la estabilidad social en el norte global y provee una orientación hegemónica en muchas sociedades del sur global. Al mismo tiempo, ha precipitado a las políticas globales del medioambiente a una crisis severa, fomentando estrategias (neo-)imperialistas con respecto a recursos naturales y sumideros. En este sentido, el modo de vida imperial hace que la crisis sea más aguda y capaz de ser procesada en una dimensión social y espacialmente limitada. El concepto por lo tanto, nos ayuda a comprender la simultánea persistencia y crisis de la constelación neoliberal-imperial y a identificar puntos de partida para las luchas antihegemónicas. 本文引入了“帝国生活方式”概念，它是由资本和资本主义国家维系的，以便理解资源和能源密集的日常实践的持续及其社会-生态后果。帝国生活方式主要建基于资源和劳动力的无限分配以及不成比例地宣称全球吸附。在“多重危机”情意丛中，它为维护全球北方的社会稳定作了贡献，而在全球南方的许多社会中提供了一种霸权倾向。与此同时，它已陷全球环境政治于一场严重危机，促进了有关自然资源和吸附的（新）帝国主义战略。在这一意义上，帝国生活方式使这场危机既更为尖锐，也能在社会和空间有限的维度上得到处理。这一概念因而帮助人们理解同时存在的新自由主义-帝国情意丛的持续和危机，确定反对霸权斗争的出发点。 이 글은 자원과 에너지 집약적인 일상생활의 지속과 그것의 사회적-생태적 결과를 이해하기 위해 ‘제국주의적 생활양식’ 개념을 소개한다. 제국주의적 생활양식은 자본과 자본주의 국가에 의해서 유지된다. 제국주의적 생활양식은 원칙적으로 무제한적인 자원과 노동력의 전유와 지구적 산업폐기물 처리 대한 불균형적인 요구에 기초하고 있다. ‘다중 위기’ 속에서 제국주의적 생활양식은 북반구의 사회적 안정을 유지시키는데 기여하고 지구적 남반구의 여러 사회에서 헤게모니적 지향을 제공한다. 동시에 그것은 자연 자원과 산업 폐기물과 관련하여 (신)제국주의 전략을 촉진시켜, 지구적 환경정치를 위기로 몰아 넣었다. 이러한 점에서 제국주의적 생활양식은 위기를 더욱 첨예하게 만들고 사회적으로 또한 공간적으로 제한된 차원에서 만 다뤄질 수 있게 만든다. 그러므로 그 개념은 신자유주의적-제국주의적 질서의 유지와 위기를 이해하고 반헤게모니적 투쟁의 출발 지점을 찾아내게 도와준다.

Contested terrains: Politics of scale, the national state and struggles for the control over nature

ABSTRACT The scale debate has significantly enhanced our understanding of the spatial dimensions of the transformations of statehood. Its crucial merit lies in a process-based understanding of scale which helps to overcome the limitations of more static concepts like multi-level governance. More recently, the usefulness of the scale concept, as well as the relationship between scale and other spatial categories, has been increasingly discussed. This paper aims to contribute to these discussions from the perspective of a materialist state theory. The papers argument is that the scale concept needs further clarification with respect to its understanding of hegemony, the national state and societal relations with nature. It elaborates this argument by analyzing the rescaling of the protection of intellectual property rights on genetic resources, with particular reference to the WTO-TRIPs Agreement. The paper concludes by stating that the production of new spatial scales of the state can be an important element in the reorganization of control over nature. However, the strong structural selectivities in favor of dominant social and political forces which characterize international state apparatuses negatively affect their hegemonic capacity. Thus, the role of national states in the regulation of contradictory social forces remains crucial and may even be strengthened by processes of rescaling.