Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil - Brossura

Mitchell, Timothy

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1781681163 ISBN 13: 9781781681169

Casa editrice: Verso Books, 2013

Riassunto

Does oil wealth lead to political poverty? It often looks that way, but Carbon Democracy tells a more complex story. In this magisterial study, Timothy Mitchell rethinks the history of energy, bringing into his grasp as he does so environmental politics, the struggle for democracy, and the place of the Middle East in the modern world. 

With the rise of coal power, the producers who oversaw its production acquired the ability to shut down energy systems, a threat they used to build the first mass democracies. Oil offered the West an alternative, and with it came a new form of politics. Oil created a denatured political life whose central object – the economy – appeared capable of infinite growth. What followed was a Western democracy dependent on an undemocratic Middle East. We now live with the consequences: an impoverished political practice, incapable of addressing the crises that threaten to end the age of carbon democracy – namely, the disappearance of cheap energy and the carbon-fueled collapse of the ecological order.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

Carbon Democracy is a sweeping overview of the relationship between fossil fuels and political institutions from the industrial revolution to the Arab Spring, which adds layers of depth and complexity to the accounts of how resource wealth and economic development are linked. --Financial Times

A challenging, sophisticated, and important book. --Foreign Policy in Focus

L'autore:

Timothy Mitchell teaches at Columbia University. His books include Colonising Egypt, Rule of Experts, and Carbon Democracy.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Verso Books
• Data di pubblicazione: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1781681163
• ISBN 13: 9781781681169
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 292