Liberalism and climate change
Liberalism, a political philosophy that emerged during the Enlightenment, emphasizes individual rights, reason, and the importance of civil society. It promotes the idea that individuals should have autonomy and be free from coercion, with a significant focus on private property as a means to self-preservation and social progress. This framework influences contemporary debates on climate change, as liberal perspectives vary widely. Some liberals advocate for collective action and government intervention to address global warming, viewing it as a challenge that requires cooperation among nations. Conversely, climate change skeptics within the liberal framework often argue that government intervention infringes on property rights and individual freedoms, suggesting that innovation and wealth creation should be the primary means to tackle climate issues. This division reflects broader tensions within liberalism, where differing interpretations shape responses to environmental challenges and highlight the complexities of balancing individual rights with collective responsibilities. Understanding these dynamics is essential for engaging in meaningful discussions about climate change policy and its implications.
Liberalism and climate change
Liberalism has an important impact on the modern mindset regarding the human relationship with nature. Liberal individualist viewpoints affect debates about global warming in diverse and, sometimes, contradictory ways. Examining liberalism is crucial in interpreting US public policy regarding global warming.
Background
Liberalism is a political philosophy founded during the Enlightenment in Europe. Prominent liberal philosophers include John Locke, Adam Smith, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill. As a theory, liberalism represents a wide range of thought. At its core, liberalism is optimistic toward the ability of humans to use reason to achieve social progress. To pursue progress through reason, the individual must be autonomous, that is, free from unnecessary coercion and threat. The rise of liberalism coincides with the rise of the modern nation state. Liberalism justifies the authority of the nation state on the grounds that the nation state is a necessary social institution to protect individual rights and liberty. These rights are often defined as the right to enjoy one’s property. Governments have a legitimate role in defending property rights and one’s freedom to enjoy property according to one’s will. Legitimate government to liberals is unbiased, representing no faction while equally protecting the rights of all citizens. Liberalism holds an optimistic view of human nature and enlightened self interest. Individual rights are central to the liberal outlook.
Private Property
The liberal emphasis on the importance of private property has had a profound impact on modern society. Private property, according to John Locke, is the basis of self-preservation. Locke argues that the person who applies labor to nature to create value is the rightful owner of that value, or property. The industrious create value where there was previously none. In this view, nature is not valuable in itself, but only as a means toward providing for human ends. According to Locke, however, humans should take from nature only that which they can reasonably use. Humans should not allow value derived from nature to spoil. With the invention of money, however, this spoilage can be reduced. Money allows for the accumulation of wealth and enlargement of private property, because it does not spoil.
It should be noted, however, that classical liberalism also informed critics of private property. Many socialist, communist, and anarchist social theories operated under classical liberal principles of human freedom, liberty, and progress. This attests to the wide range of ideas and social movements inspired by liberalism.
Civil Society
Liberalism emphasizes the importance of civil society. Civil society is achieved by the voluntary submission of each free individual to an objective power that can judge social conflicts arising between self-interested people. The primary force in civil society is the legislature. The legislature makes the laws that form the common bonds and rules among individuals. Civil society is necessary because, prior to civil society, people exist in the state of nature. The state of nature is one of mutual fear and danger. To enforce legislative bonds, an executive must possess the power to execute laws and punish those who fail to abide by the rules of civil society, or the social contract. Liberal democracies operate under social contracts, such as the United States Constitution.
The Danger of Factions
Civil society aims to promote peace and preserve private property. However, legislative and executive power may fall prey to the interests of factions, which view government as a means to pursue their own interests rather than the interests of the whole country. When factions become too powerful, civil society falls into despotism and possible dissolution. If powerful factions rule unjustly, those who are unjustly ruled are justified to resist. This liberal concept is explicitly stated in the reasoning of the Declaration of Independence of the United States. Problems associated with factions are also a central concern in The Federalist Papers, written by the early American statesmen Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.
Context
Liberalism affects the economics and politics of global warming in diverse and contradictory ways, many of which arise from the various interpretations of liberalism. For example, liberals with enlightened self-interest who accept the theory of climate change argue that rational people can work together to solve this collective problem. Civil society would call upon the government to address the problem of climate change through legislation and executive action. In the academic field of international relations, liberal theorists cite the importance of cooperation between nation states to achieve common goals. Liberals argue that common goals and interests promote peace between nation states. Liberal scholars in international relations recommend international agreements and institutions to address collective problems such as climate change. Climate change is a good example of a global problem that requires cooperative behavior among the nation states of the global system.
To global warming skeptics, however, liberalism is interpreted to defend the inviolability of private property. Skeptics argue that government intervention in the economic process should be kept to a minimum to protect the freedom to dispose of one’s private property as one sees fit. Intrusion by governments to address climate change may diminish the liberty of individuals who possess property. These skeptical individuals believe the best way to address climate change, if it is a problem, is to allow individuals to create wealth that can be applied to solve the problem.
Economic neoliberals, who are often political conservatives, are central to skeptical climate change discourse. Some neoliberals are openly hostile to environmentalists, arguing that they represent a new religious movement or reformation of socialism. The skeptical view contends climate change is not a real phenomenon, but a fabrication created by alarmists who have a self-interest in promoting climate change theory, as they profit from government intervention in the economy. Ironically, contending views of climate change theory allow different schools of liberal thought to see each other as representing factions that endanger private property, civil society, and natural law.
Key Concepts
- civil society: a voluntary community composed of individuals who share similar values and norms and who work to improve their collective welfare
- complex interdependence: a situation in which intensive interconnections between transnational actors necessitate cooperation among those actors
- faction: a group of individuals with common goals who work primarily to attain their interests within a larger political framework
- liberty: the ability of individuals to act according to their own will without external coercion
- natural law: the concept that some laws are given by nature and apply to everyone at all times in all places
- neoliberalism: the liberal school of thought in economics that stresses the importance of free markets and minimal government intervention in economic matters
- private property: the individual or group ownership and control over objects that have value and can be exchanged
- reason: the use of logic and analysis to formulate and evaluate propositions and arguments
Bibliography
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