Exploring the Love Triangle of Authoritarianism, Populism, and COVID-19 Through Political Ecology: Time for a Break-Up?

Authoritarian and populist regimes have used the coronavirus pandemic as another excuse to further push back on democracy. Through the lens of boundary-making, we discuss power processes in pandemic politics of three countries whose governments and power constellations rely on authoritarian and/or populist politics (Hungary, Nicaragua, and Guatemala). Our aim is to envision the conceptual and practical possibilities for breaking up the unhealthy love relationship amid pandemic politics, authoritarianism, and populism, and for ultimately dismantling all three. On the basis of secondary data, personal communications, and our lived experiences, we analyze pandemic politics in authoritarian and populist contexts, exploring their ambiguous and co-constitutive effects through three apparent contradictions. First, we discuss control, or the ways in which the framing of the pandemic by authoritarian and populist regimes as an emergency, a quasi-war situation, or an excuse for political opportunism entails an attempt to justify command-and-control policies upon public behavior, intimate daily life, and subject classification. However, these control measures also bring about contestation through self-quarantine calls, accountability-driven demands of epidemiological data, and/or counter-narratives. Second, we engage with the contradiction of knowledge, by pointing out how authoritarian knowledge politics regarding the pandemic are based on over-centralized decision-making processes, manipulation of epidemiological data, and the silencing of unauthorized voices. Simultaneously, these measures are challenged and resisted by counter-knowledge alternatives on pandemic data and the struggles for subaltern forms of knowledge that could make relevant contributions to public health. Third, we discuss the contradiction of subjectivation processes. Authoritarian regimes make extraordinary efforts to draw a line between those bodies and subjects that deserve state protection and those that do not. In this situation, multiple forms of exclusion intersect and are reinforced based on ethnic, political, national, and gender differences. The manipulation of emotions is crucial in these divisions, often creating “worthy” and “unworthy” subjects. This highlights interconnectedness among vulnerabilities and emphasizes how care and solidarity are important elements in defying authoritarian populism. Finally, we conclude by proposing strategies that would allow political ecology to support prospects of emancipation for social justice, desperately needed in a pandemic-prone foreseeable future

Rural politics in undemocratic times: Exploring the emancipatory potential of small rural initiatives in authoritarian Hungary

Constructing environmentally sustainable and democratic political regimes constitutes the most important po-litical project of our times - an era characterised by the proliferation of authoritarianism and the growing effects of climate change. Through the case of Hungary, an example of a modern authoritarian regime, this article discusses how agricultural initiatives such as Community Supported Agriculture, permaculture, and small-scale and regenerative farming can help situate questions of sustainable rural politics into a broader agenda of democratic governance. Building on qualitative interviews conducted in Hungary and the literature on socio-environmental transformations, authoritarian populism, authoritarian neoliberalism, and emancipatory poli-tics, our aim is to envision emancipatory rural politics grounded in democratic societal projects and sustainable ways of producing and living with the land. After laying out what we identify as the three rural pillars of the Hungarian authoritarian regime - unequal land relations, agricultural subsidies and agricultural commodity sales -, we argue for attention to what could become the rural pillars of sustainable democracy: emancipatory alli-ances, counter-knowledge claims, and emancipatory subjectivities. Efforts at building the latter aspects can help Hungarians (and others) reimagine democracy from the countryside, establish new collective relations, and embrace the unavoidable ambiguities of emancipatory rural politics

Affective adaptation = effective transformation? Shifting the politics of climate change adaptation and transformation from the status quo

Alarming rates of environmental change have catalyzed scholars to call for fundamental transformations in social-political and economic relations. Yet cautionary tales about how power and politics are constitutive of these efforts fill the literature. We show how a relational framing of adaptation and transformation demands a political, cross-scalar, and socionatural analysis to probe the affects and effects of climate change and better grasp how transformative change unfolds. We bring affect theory into conversation with the literature on adaptation politics, socio-environmental transformations, subjectivity, and our empirical work to frame our analysis around three under investigated aspects of transformation: (i) the uncertain and unpredictable relations that constitute socionatures; (ii) other ways of knowing; and (iii) the affective and emotional relations that form a basis for action. Affective adaptation represents a different ontological take on transformation by reframing the socionatural, normative and ethical aspects as relational, uncertain, and performative. This directs analytical attention to processes rather than outcomes. The emphasis on the encounter between bodies in affect theory points to the need for experiential and embodied ways of knowing climate to effect transformative change. Effective transformation requires recognizing uncertainty and unpredictability as part of transformative processes. This is not because all outcomes are acceptable, but rather because uncertainty and unpredictability are elements which help generate affects (action) and emotional commitment to shared human and more than human relations in action, projects, and policies. This article is categorized under: Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Values-Based Approach to Vulnerability and Adaptatio

Transforming environmental governance: critical action intellectuals and their praxis in the field

Over the past decade, widespread concern has emerged over how environmental governance can be transformed to avoid impending catastrophes such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and livelihood insecurity. A variety of approaches have emerged, focusing on either politics, technological breakthrough, social movements, or macro-economic processes as the main drivers of change. In contrast, this paper presents theoretical insights about how systemic change in environmental governance can be triggered by critical and intellectually grounded social actors in specific contexts of environment and development. Conceptualising such actors as critical action intellectuals (CAI), we analyze how CAI emerge in specific socio-environmental contexts and contribute to systemic change in governance. CAI trigger transformative change by shifting policy discourse, generating alternative evidence, and challenging dominant policy assumptions, whilst aiming to empower marginalized groups. While CAI do not work in a vacuum, nor are the sole force in transformation, we nevertheless show that the praxis of CAI within fields of environmental governance has the potential to trigger transformation. We illustrate this through three cases of natural resource governance in Nepal, Nicaragua and Guatemala, and Kenya, where the authors themselves have engaged as CAI. We contribute to theorising the 'how' of transformation by showing the ways CAI praxis reshape fields of governance and catalyze transformation, distinct from, and at times complementary to, other dominant drivers such as social movements, macroeconomic processes or technological breakthroughs

Critical Reflexivity in Political Ecology Research: How can the Covid-19 Pandemic Transform us Into Better Researchers?

It is not just the world but our ways of producing knowledge that are in crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed our interconnected vulnerabilities in ways never seen before while underscoring the need for emancipation in particular from the hegemonic knowledge politics that underpin “business-as-usual” academic research that have both contributed to and failed to address the systemic challenges laid bare by the pandemic. Political ecologists tasked with knowledge generation on vulnerabilities and their underlying power processes are particularly well placed to envision such emancipatory processes. While pausing physically due to travel restrictions, as researchers in political ecology and rural development at the same university department, we want to make a stop to radically rethink our intellectual engagements. In this article, we aim to uncover “sanitized” aspects of research encounters, and theorize on the basis of anecdotes, feelings and informal discussions—“data” that is often left behind in fieldwork notes and personal diaries of researchers—, the ways in which our own research practices hamper or can be conducive to emancipation in times of multiple interconnected health, political, social, and environmental crises. We do so through affective autoethnography and resonances on our research encounters during the pandemic: with people living in Swedish Sapmi, with African students in our own “Global North” university department and with research partners in Nepal. We use a threefold focus on interconnectedness, uncertainty and challenging hegemonic knowledge politics as our analytical framework. We argue that acknowledging the roles of emotions and affect can 1) help embrace interconnectedness in research encounters; 2) enable us to work with uncertainty rather than “hard facts” in knowledge production processes; and 3) contribute to challenging hegemonic knowledge production. Opening up for emotions in research helps us to embrace the relational character of vulnerability as a pathway to democratizing power relations and to move away from its oppressive and colonial modes still present in universities and research centers. Our aim is to contribute to envisioning post-Covid-19 political ecology and rural development research that is critically reflexive and that contributes to the emergence of a new ethics of producing knowledge. Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it. (Roy, 2020

El acaparamiento de tierras y el desarrollo de un régimen populista autoritario de derecha en Hungría

¿ Cómo surgen y cómo se mantienen los regímenes populistas autoritarios dentro de las fronteras de la Unión Europea en el siglo xxi? En Hungría, el acaparamiento de tierras agrícolas por y para los oligarcas nacionales es uno de los pilares centrales que mantienen el régimen del primer ministro Orbán, tanto en el ámbito político como en el económico. El fenómeno es poco conocido y encuentra escasa resistencia local, ya que los medios de comunicación controlados por el régimen mantienen a la población húngara distraída con los supuestos peligros provocados por los «enemigos del pueblo húngaro», como las personas refugiadas, el inversionista Georges Soros y la Unión Europea. El caso húngaro requiere la atención de los activistas y de la comunidad académica ya que ejemplifica bien cómo el populismo autoritario de derecha puede desarrollarse aprovechando las potencialidades de las zonas rurales al mismo tiempo que las afecta. En particular, en este artículo, muestro cómo los cambios en la tenencia de las tierras agrícolas constituyeron un motor para las tres victorias electorales consecutivas de Orbán (2010, 2014, 2018)

Climate change, 'technology' and gender: "Adapting women" to climate change with cooking stoves and water reservoirs in rural Nicaragua

Presented by Noemi Gonda on 15 June 2017, as part of the webinar 'Gender, climate change and agriculture'. The webinar was co-organized by the CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)

Manual de Buenas Prácticas para el manejo de plantaciones forestales en el noroeste de la Patagonia

El presente manual sistematiza y propone las técnicas de manejo más apropiadas para la planificación, conducción y aprovechamiento sustentable de plantaciones forestales en la Patagonia Andina. Para su elaboración se ha recopilado la información existente las experiencias aplicadas en la región a través de numerosos técnicos, investigadores, extensionistas, prestadores de servicios y propietarios forestales. Por lo tanto este manual ordena y propone un conjunto de criterios y técnicas para el manejo sustentable de las plantaciones forestales en la zona de secano de la región noroeste patagónica acordes con el estado actual de conocimientos, que promueva la producción de bienes y servicios en un paisaje multiproductivo y en un marco de conservación de la biodiversidadFil: Attis Beltran, Hernan. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Asentamiento Universidad San Martín de Los Andes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Barroetaveña, Carolina. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bava, Jose E.. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Bonino, Never Antonio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Bulgarelli, Luciano. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Caballe, Gonzalo Omar. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Calvi, Francisco. No especifíca;Fil: Castañeda, Sara Rita. No especifíca;Fil: Chauchards, Luis Mario. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Asentamiento Universidad San Martín de Los Andes; ArgentinaFil: Chavat, Florencia. No especifíca;Fil: Claps, Leonardo Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche. Grupo de Genética Forestal; ArgentinaFil: Contardi, Liliana. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco"; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Danklmaiert, Christine. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Davel, Miguel M.. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco"; ArgentinaFil: de Errasti, Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Administración de Parques Nacionales; ArgentinaFil: Defossé, Guillermo Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto Andino Patagónico de Tecnologías Biológicas y Geoambientales. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto Andino Patagónico de Tecnologías Biológicas y Geoambientales; ArgentinaFil: Del Vas, Javier. No especifíca;Fil: Alejandro, Dezzotti. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Asentamiento Universidad San Martín de Los Andes; ArgentinaFil: Diez, Juan P.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Dillon, Yanina. No especifíca;Fil: Fernandez, Maria Elena. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Buenos Aires Sur. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Felicetti, Augusto. No especifíca;Fil: Frugoni, Maria Cristina Margarita. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Asentamiento Universidad San Martín de Los Andes; ArgentinaFil: Focarazzo, Silvia. No especifíca;Fil: Fontana, Virginia. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Asentamiento Universidad San Martín de Los Andes; ArgentinaFil: Godoy, M. Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto Andino Patagónico de Tecnologías Biológicas y Geoambientales. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto Andino Patagónico de Tecnologías Biológicas y Geoambientales; ArgentinaFil: Gonda, Héctor Eduardo. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco"; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Greslebin, Alina Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco". Facultad de Ciencias Naturales - Sede Esquel. Departamento de Biología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Guglielmin, Dante A.. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco"; ArgentinaFil: Gyenge, Javier Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Buenos Aires Sur. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; ArgentinaFil: Lantschner, María Victoria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Letourneau, Federico Jorge. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Buenos Aires Sur. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Loguercio, Gabriel Ange. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco"; ArgentinaFil: Martinez, Andrés. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Mattes Fernández, Hernán. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Asentamiento Universidad San Martín de Los Andes; ArgentinaFil: Mele, Uriel. No especifíca;Fil: Melzner, Guillermo E.. Ministerio de Agricultura Ganaderia y Pesca de la Nacion.; ArgentinaFil: Mondino, Victor Alejandro. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Sur. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Esquel; ArgentinaFil: Mortoro, Ariel Mario. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Asentamiento Universidad San Martín de Los Andes; ArgentinaFil: Novak, Carla. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Nuñez, Cecilia Inés. Universidad Nacional del Comahue; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Nuñez, Martin Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Orellana, Ivonne. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco"; ArgentinaFil: Pantaenius, Pedro Maximiliano. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco"; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Pastorino, Mario Juan. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rajchenberg, Mario. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco"; ArgentinaFil: Rusch, Verónica. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Salvador, Gustavo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Sur. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Esquel; ArgentinaFil: Sarasola, Mauro Miguel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Sbrancia, Renato Ernesto. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Asentamiento Universidad San Martín de Los Andes; ArgentinaFil: Stecher, Gabriel Andre. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Asentamiento Universidad San Martín de Los Andes; ArgentinaFil: Troncoso, Oscar Alberto. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "san Juan Bosco". Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnica. Instituto Biotecnologico Esquel.; ArgentinaFil: Urretavizcaya, M. Florencia. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Varela, Santiago Agustín. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Velásquez, Abel. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Asentamiento Universidad San Martín de Los Andes; ArgentinaFil: Villacide, José María. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Weigandt, Mariana Noemi. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Carlos de Bariloche; ArgentinaFil: Zalazar, Gabriel. Ministerio de Agricultura Ganaderia y Pesca de la Nacion.; Argentin